A. R. Rahman Quotes

It's an approximate count. If you have a hit film, you'll sell 5 million or 6 million CDs. Of my movies, at least 20 or 25 were really big hits. [Mind you, he adds], in India, we don't get royalties. Otherwise I'd be a very rich man. I wouldn't have to come to America!

The first day I was in a daze thinking, ‘What am I doing? What’s my role?’ and then slowly we started writing with each other, and it was great. It took me way back to my high school days when I was playing in a rock band.

Bombay, which sold about 120,000 copies, is widely rated as my most successful work, though Roja is definitely the score that brought me where I am today.

He works less but he has given Indian music a completely different sound which has worked.

The Oscar is definitely the biggest moment in my life. I know he has won so many awards. But this one is special because he is representing India.

Yes, 6 songs... Thiruda Thiruda: Great. I felt honoured since it was the last song Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did before his death. We miss him a lot, it was an emotional bond in the 50th year to bring a synergy between India and Pakistan.

The ultimate enjoyment for a composer is when his compositions get recognised and appreciated. For me, a small village in Kanyakumari is as important as New York or France.

The billboard outside the Broadway Theatre reads, A R RAHMAN'S BOMBAY DREAMS. That name may mean little to musical-theater devotees, but in the rest of the world it's golden. Like Gershwin or Lennon-McCartney, the name stands for melody, quality, energy, instant hummability — a sound both personal and universal, devouring many older forms and transforming them into something gorgeously new.

Musical theater had become very predictable. I think Andrew felt that Bollywood musicals could be a new treat for the Western audience.

What a film and what a team to work with. The spirit of the film is reflected in its team. [Rahman] with "changing the entire face of Indian film music.

He's not imitative, he spaces himself out unlike other directors who sign up whatever they can get and are looking at quantity rather than quality. As a result, in 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the cases he delivers.

What one thinks is possible might not always be so. I try to do my best but, finally, everything lies in God's hands. I consider my skills as a musician to be a blessing from God. Even today, before I perform, I am unsure of whether I will be able to move my audience. I leave everything to Him... He pulls the strings in my life.

Rahman, the world's most prolific and popular composer, lent his irrepressible melodic gift to Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, set in Rahman's native land, and nearly tops himself here with music that is tense, oppressive and finally exalting.

The trend in the north is more Punjabi folk and simple music. But, in the past, people like Naushad experimented with Hindustani classical music which I think has been completely forgotten. People don't experiment anymore and think that Hindustani classical music won't work. For me, coming from the south, it was just a little step to learn Punjabi music. The nuances are louder in Punjabi music. Songs like Mukkala muqqabla or Humma humma had more of the Tamil folk music in it.

Now the "Mozart of Madras" has the world's foot tapping along with him.