AR Rahman Talks About Working On Rajinikanth Movies: It Was Hell

Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman looked back at creating music for Rajinikanth films back in the day and recollected how it wasn’t always the best of experience. In a new interview on the 'Our Stupid Reactions' YouTube channel, Rahman said that working on those films was ‘hell’ because of the tight deadlines and huge pressure.

Rahman acknowledged that like every other artist, he also encounters creative blocks, but he said the bigger problem is the pressure. “At least now it’s better, but before it used to be, we start in March, when I used to doRajinikanthmovies… This movie will have to release by Diwali, they will say. And then, I will have to do the songs, I will have to do the background, and the electricity used to be very funky at my place. We used to have two generators stationed. It was hell.” 

Music composer Rahman said that he used to work with different directors on multiple projects at the same time. However, he had to prioritize the Rajinikanth films over other films. Sometimes, this also ended in directors getting annoyed and upset with Rahman. He added, “I used to do three movies, so the other directors would say, ‘My stuff is coming on Diwali too, AR’. 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. Now, there’s much more leisure.” 

Rahman has composed the music for several Rajinikanth films such as 'Muthu', 'Sivaji: The Boss', 'Enthiran', and most recently, '2.0.' 

AR Rahman will be reuniting with legendary lyricist-poet Gulzar for a biopic on business tycoon Subrata Roy. Previously, they had worked on exceptional projects such as 'Dil Se', 'Guru', and 'Slumdog Millionaire', which bagged multiple accolades including Academy awards.