Working For Rajinikanth’s Films Was Hell: AR Rahman

Ace music composer AR Rahman does music in a way that tunes emotionally with us in one way or another. But least are we aware of the experience he often went through while composing these masterpieces. Recently, Rahman opened up about those days when he worked for Rajinikanth’s films, and as per his words, no…it’s not pleasant!

Rahman composed the music for Rajinikanth’s movies such as Muthu, Sivaji: The Boss, Enthiran, and 2.0. Talking to one of the YouTube channels, he called the experience of working for Rajini’s films ‘hell’ because of the short deadlines and tremendous burden. He said that having pressure was the bigger problem.

“It is better now. In those days, I used to start working on Rajinikanth’s movies in March or so. And his movies usually get released by Diwali. I will have to do the songs, BGM, and the electricity used to be very funky at my place. We used to have two generators stationed. It was hell.” The composer said that he would consistently have to prioritise Rajinikanth films, which would infuriate the other directors that he was working with.

Rahman further recalled how he used to work on numerous projects simultaneously. “I used to do three movies, so the other directors would say, ‘My film is coming on Diwali too. It was hell. I used to hate all these festivals because they used to give me hell, whether it was Diwali or New Year or Pongal because I never used to enjoy it. Now, there’s much more leisure.” Rahman said.

As we recall, AR Rahman has won six National Film Awards, two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, fifteen Filmfare Awards, and seventeen Filmfare Awards South. And he absolutely deserved them as one could listen to his songs a million times and still have the same kind of excitement and euphoria.