AR Rahman recently shared how a drunk guitarist questioned his music sensibility once and how his remark left a deep imprint on his mind. In an interview with O2 India, AR Rahman revealed he was being influenced by his co-composers while playing for a band and he took seven years to get out of that influence.
AR Rahman started his pursuit of music at a tender age. He recalled, “I went through a phase where I was playing for a couple of composers and I was in a band. This one time, when I was young, the guitarist in the band was drunk and he turned to me and said, ‘What are you playing? You are playing film music.’ He made a very condescending comment about my playing. This was in 1985 or 86 I think.”
AR Rahman said that “condescending” remark actually worked as a catalyst to his moments of epiphany. “At the moment, I didn’t realise what he meant, but weeks later, it hit me and I realised that whatever he said was right,” he recalled.
“When I thought deeply about his remark about me, I realised that I was getting influenced by the composers I was playing for. After this, I consciously began to move away from it. And my mental journey of identifying ‘what will be my style’ began. It took me about seven years, and I completely moved away from the influences,” AR Rahman said about his mental journey.
Later, AR Rahman contemplated and realised how he could revive his soul of music. “Not that the guitarist said anything bad to me, but sometimes certain remarks imprint in your heart so much that it becomes a positive influence to move away from that stuff.”
“This helped me learn to move away from my own influence. I mean I revive the soul of my music but move away from the packaging,” AR Rahman said.
AR Rahman’s private life came under public scrutiny after he called his 29-year marriage a quit with Saira Banu. On the work front, he will be composing music for Ram Charan and Buchi Babu’s RC 16.
