AR Rahman says he 'didn’t even consider' relocating to Mumbai in the '90s due to underworld mafia culture

AR Rahman. Pic/Google

AR Rahman has spread the magic of his music and vocals across the globe. Be it in India or internationally, the maestro has given the music industry some gems. Now, in an interview with The Hindu, Rahman looked back at his journey and revealed the reason behind not moving to Mumbai when he was offered the chance to relocate from Chennai.

Highlighting the existence of the movie mafia, Rahman shared, I remember in 1994, a big producer from Andhra Pradesh said he'd give me a massive place in Banjara Hills if I moved out from Chennai. I just smiled at him. Later, when I found prominence up North, Subhash Ghai asked me to learn Hindi as people there love me and I should know the language. But that was the time of the underworld mafia culture in Mumbai, so I didn't even consider it."

He further added, "A few years later, I was working in England, but my wife barely spent three months in the UK before she wanted to run back to India. Then, came the US, and we even bought a house there as everyone loved it. But this time I put my foot down and we all returned home."

In the same interview, Rahman mentioned he had advised Kamal Haasan to make a Hollywood film without being judgemental about it. He stated, "I feel like he got trapped in this industry over the years. It's a good thing for us; but for him... I don't know. 20 years ago, when he had the money, he should have just gone to Hollywood and made a film there."

Workwise AR Rahman composed music for Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan: II. He will be teaming up with Aanand L Rai for the music of Dhanush's Tere Ishq Mein. Apart from this, the veteran composer has worked on the music on Ajay Devgn's biopic Maidaan and Ishaan Khatter's Pippa.

In 2021, Rahman turned director with the musical romantic film titled 99 Songs. He went on to direct Le Musk in 2022. Last year, he also made a cameo in the Malayalam film Aaraattu.