AR Rahman Reflects on Drunk Guitarist's Comment that Stuck for 7 Years

AR Rahman, the global music icon, began working early to support his family. In a recent interview, he recalled a moment when a drunk guitarist questioned his music, and his comments served as an eye-opener for Rahman.

When a drunk guitarist questioned AR Rahman's music

AR Rahman said that there was a time when he was influenced by all the composers he was working with. It happened that he was only 19 when a drunken guitarist from his band asked him about his music, which really struck him. He said, "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 on how drunk guitarist's comment worked as positive influence

He added how it took him seven years to move away from the influences and said, “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. 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 further added that though the guitarist didn't say anything bad to him, that remark really left an imprint in his heart so much. That became a very positive influence for him to move away from his own influence as well. Rahman will now be composing music for Hansal Mehta's upcoming series Gandhi. Not only that, but he will also be composing the music for Ram Charan and Buchi Babu's upcoming movie, the RC16.