One of the most successful musicians of India, AR Rahman is the recipient of multiple awards including two Oscars, two Grammy, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and multiple National and Filmfare awards. While he remains in news for his professional achievements, little is known about his personal life, especially early days that shaped his personality. In a heart-to-heart conversation with Nikhil Kamath, the renowned music director opened up on his lesser-known side.
Talking about his childhood days, and sharing memories of his late father, the Oscar-winning music director said: “Most of the life in Chennai, yeah. I was born in Chennai. My father, yes, he used to work in the studios. And then we are in the belly of the beast near Kodambakkam. Our house and all the studios used to exist.”
Rahman’s father RK Shekhar was a prominent music composer, arranger, and conductor for the Malayalam film industry at the time. He scored music for over 100 films, inspiring Rahman to follow his musical legacy.
“I think he’s such an inspiration. Because every musician came from his troupe. Whether it’s a guitarist, a violin player. Because he had given so much work to the musicians. Because he was working different places, he said.
“And everybody used to adore him even if they’re not talented. You sit in the last row, take some money and go. Be good for your family, good for education. Even people like world class players like L. Subramaniam had kind words to say. He shared with me like a couple of years back,” he added.
“So even now, even today, that probably set the standard for me to where I should head as a human being, as a successor to him.”
During the conversation, Rahman shared at length how losing his father at 9, and his grandmother soon after impacted him as a child, and how the grief and the deep financial instability led him to make certain big decisions about his life.
”My mother a very, very confident lady’
“I think when I was growing up, I went through all this. The death of my father, my grandmother. And then conflicts where I was just seeing trauma every day. My mother was a single, very, very confident lady. She took all the pain,” Rahman said.
Rahman also mentioned how his mother single-handedly brought them up and encouraged him to pursue music.
“She had to protect us from, and she was so strong that withstanding all the kind of humiliations, she single-handedly brought us up. Right. Encouraging me to go into music. She decided for me that I should be in music. So I’ve told that many times,” he said.
“And so in a way I felt like I should be clean because I had three sisters. And me behaving in a certain way would also reflect what’s coming back. And I was, my whole childhood was with 40 year old and 50 year old, 60 year old in the studio playing music. And I missed all the fun with friends and all the stuff at school. No college,” he added.
Left the school at the age of 15-16
Rahman’s late mother Kareema Begum in an old interview revealed that she had to pull the young Dileep out of school because their family needed financial support. Rahman earlier revealed that she left the school half-heartedly to support his family.
Revealing that he left the school at 15-16, Rahman said: “School is not just about education. It’s about understanding humanity. It’s about seeing each other and getting to know the stories and learning things from other kids. Their families are different. That I missed definitely.”
“But then I got the, I was with intelligent people in the studio, great musicians in the studio, which also inspired me to reach up to more musicality and play more stuff,” he added.
Coping with the loss of his ‘fist hero’ and ‘angel’
Calling his dad his first hero and mother an angel, Rahman talked about being still affected by their absence in his life.
“It affects you because that’s the only thing you have, right? Your parents, that’s the only holding ground for you. The memories and what your dad is, what he represented or how he worked. And so to everyone, your dad is your first hero, right?” he said.
“Your mother is the angel who was a safe place to go. The lap is the safe place to sleep. And that’s where the respect for my mother or my father is still there. Same thing,” he added.