AR Rahman recalls spending 3 years reading Quran, learnt Hindi and Urdu after seeing ‘humiliating’ comments on translations of his Tamil songs

AR Rahman recalls the time when Subhash Ghai said he won't last in the industry if he won't learn Hindi.

New Delhi | October 13, 2025 02:35 PM IST

3 min read

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AR Rahman is regarded as one of the greatest music composers in the world, earning global acclaim after his Oscar win for Slumdog Millionaire. Long before that, his work in Roja brought him widespread recognition in Tamil Nadu. Rahman made his Hindi cinema debut with Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela (1995), but it was his collaboration with filmmaker Subhash Ghai on Taal (1999) that marked his serious foray into composing across multiple languages.

In a recent interview with NDTV hosted by Shruti Haasan, the music maestro opened up about feeling embarrassed by the literal translations of his Tamil songs into Hindi. “I think there is a certain kind of aura with each language,” Rahman said. “When my movies like Dil Se and Roja did well, people started making literal translations of Tamil songs. It was humiliating for me to see bad comments like, ‘This Hindi lyrics sucks, I would rather listen to the Tamil version.’”

Rahman said the problem occurred as it was an era of films succeeding at box office in three languages. “People saw money. That’s when I started focusing on doing more Hindi-oriented movies instead of dubbed ones.”

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Rahman revealed that it took him nearly a decade to realise the importance of learning different languages to preserve the soul of his compositions. “It was after ten years of my career that I realised this,” he shared. “I even learned a bit of Arabic from our holy book, the Quran. Between 1994 and 1997, I devoted time to studying and reading the Quran Sharif.”

While this spiritual journey made Urdu easier for him, it also influenced his Hindi. “When I met Subhash Ghai, he told me, ‘You’re a great composer, but without learning Hindi, you won’t last.’ I thought it was beautiful advice. I took it seriously and learned Hindi and Urdu,” Rahman added. “The love from Hindi-speaking audiences around the world is extraordinary — and now, I even love Punjabi too.”

Previously, Rahman had also voiced his displeasure about remakes of his songs. Speaking to The Week, he said, “You can’t imagine people using someone’s work without their permission.”

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