Suresh Wadekar recalls tiff with AR Rahman, reveals they never worked together after Rangeela song: ‘I don’t like his system’

Suresh, now 68, then worked directly with Rahman during the recording of 1995 film Rangeela when the former was called to Madras (present-day Chennai).

“One day I got a call from Madras. I had heard the name AR Rahman because Roja had released. I had done all the male songs of Roja in Marathi. It was dubbed.” The singer said about Rahman’s style of working. “His daily schedule was sleeping until the afternoon. His system was set. From 2 pm until 3am to 4am the next day, he used to work,” revealed Suresh.

The singer’s first reaction upon seeing Rehman was to address him as Dileep, just like how he remembered the music composer.

He said, “So when he came, I was surprised and exclaimed ‘Dileep!’. So Mehboob, the lyricist told me that he is only Rahman sahab… So, it was a bit shocking for me that Dilip is Rahman. Then he told me the song ‘Pyaar Ye Jaane Kaisa Hai’. Such a beautiful song he had made and I was very happy. I felt really good and we kept talking for a long time and people also liked the song.”

However, things took a sour turn between the singer and music composer when Suresh was called in to record the next song in Chennai. After that, the singer-music composer duo never worked together.

“After that I went to do another song for him, but he didn’t call me after that. Sometimes in work, you like certain things and others you don’t. Firstly, I didn’t like the system. His assistant recorded that song with me. Then sir (Rahman) came. But by then we had gone back to the hotel; me and Sadhana Sargam,” recalled the Padma Shri award winner.

Suresh further added, “AR Rahman came and heard the song and said, ‘No No, I want a little like this.’ So these things don’t sit well in our system and because of that we had a little argument and after that neither did he call me, nor I sang for him.”

However, Suresh, who has been in the Indian music industry for several decades, has good wishes for the Oscar winning music composer. “He is a very talented kid and does great work. We have a lot of respect for him and he is the first person from India to receive Oscar, for which I give him best wishes,” said Suresh.