'I never knew that I was born for music'

Academy Award-winning composer A R Rahman never realised that he was born for music and it was his mother who predicted that he would be a music composer. The music director said his mother made a choice and motivated him to make a career in music.

“I never knew that I was born for music. My mom made the choice and she kind of predicted that I will be a music composer. The day I realised that music would be my passion and future was when I went to my studio that had no equipment. It was just a shell; just a sound proof room with an AC. I felt one day I will have all types of equipment that I can’t afford now,” he said.

Rahman, who participated in a panel discussion on ‘Creativity in Innovation’, alongside fellow Oscar-winner Resul Pookutty, said his only aim was to practise and learn music. “Around 1986, I stopped playing for other composers.I didn’t care about opportunities.”

Resul said sound mixing as a craft was not known in India until he won the Academy Award for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. “It took 81 years for an Asian to win an Oscar in sound. For me, it took 14 years. I learned that I have to create something new in the industry,” he said.