A. R. Rahman Quotes

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.

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.

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

My mother's belief in spiritual healers grew stronger after our family went through a rough patch following my father's death. Sufi saint Karimullah Shah Kadri changed our lives and all of us converted to Sufism. But it wasn't an instantaneous decision — it took us 10 years to convert. The change in religion was like washing away the past.

In my case, dust has become gold: Today, I work with people I grew up admiring. But, internally, I am the same person I always was. Ever since I embraced Sufism, I have learnt to separate myself from my desires and my success. Now, I can distance myself from all the adulation showered on me.

I never exert pressure on my children: I encourage the children, Katija and Rahima, to pursue their dreams. Rahima is embarrassed by autograph-seekers and doesn't want me to visit her school. In fact, I have never attended a single PTA meeting or gone to pick up the report cards of my children.

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

May he win such an award every year. He is a genius. Rahman's music is a blend of a little South Indian music and what we commonly call Hindi film music.

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.

Jazz was my passion for a little while. I felt that all other kinds of music were stupid when I was into jazz. But I got over the addiction very soon

I've always told him, a composer is someone who composes soulful music. There are some of A.R.'s songs that have made me very emotional and I have cried. It is something that he creates from within.

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.

I had been doing the same kind of stuff for 15-16 years and was desperately seeking a change. But there was no opportunity to reinterpret Indian music. With Roja, we wanted to strike a new note. Mani's amazing visuals, Mutthu's romantic lyrics, relatively unknown singers... we wanted to impart to Roja an international flavour — and we succeeded.

Rahman is a genius and has made the world sit up and take notice of Indian talent with his success. He has put the Indian film industry on the world map."