AR Rahman says he ‘didn’t use all the opportunities’ after he won Oscars: ‘I felt like I have done enough’

AR Rahman made history when he became the first Indian music composer to win two Oscars at once for his composition in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. In a new interview, Rahman said that at that time, he got many opportunities from the West but he did not utilise all of them fully as he was in his “chill out” mode. After Slumdog, Rahman worked a fair bit in Hollywood but eventually, he started focusing on Indian movies again.

In a chat with Bollywood Bubble, Rahman said that with the concert culture increasing around the globe, especially in India, people are starting to “accept music as music.” He said that if Indian artistes can crossover to the non-Indian audience with their music, it will be a huge boost for them. “If we can crossover to an audience that is not just Indian, and I think it’s important at this stage where people are willing to invest their time to listen to Indian music, Indian artistes and it happened during ‘Jai Ho’ and Oscar but I was more in the chill out mode then,” he said.

Rahman added, “I didn’t use all the opportunities. I was like, I have done enough, let me also chill out.” He further shared, “So, I was mostly in Los Angeles, I was doing Hollywood movies and I didn’t use some of the opportunities which could have pushed the boundaries more.”

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AR Rahman won two Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for his work in Slumdog Millionaire. He also won the BAFTA, Grammy and Golden Globe for the same. After winning the Oscar, Rahman was felicitated at an event in Tamil Nadu where he said, “I completed the music for Slumdog Millionaire in three weeks. There were only seventeen keys. For our films, there will be around 130 keys. The agent heard and said it was really good and that I should submit it to Oscar. After I submitted… the way people received me after Roja… similarly, everyone started to smile at me. Many told me, ‘I love your music.’ And I was like, ‘What did I do much that they are liking it?.”