Today, Oscar-winning composer, AR Rahman is a legendary musician with an unparalleled discography. Every passing day, he keeps achieving new heights with his musical brilliance, however, the journey wasn’t a flowery one. The veteran composer faced his fair share of challenges while carving a niche for himself. Early on in his career, Rahman found that the works of other composers were influencing him. Things took a turn when his band’s guitarist made a condescending comment about his music.

In a recent conversation with O2 India, AR Rahman revealed that while he was working with several composers, thier music started influencing him. At the time, his band’s guitarist made a snide comment about Rahman’s music in a drunken state. “I went through a phase where I was playing for a couple of composers, and I was in a band. This one time, when I was young, the guitarist in the band was drunk, and he turned to me and said, ‘What are you playing? You are playing film music.’ He made a very condescending comment about my playing. This was in 1985 or 86, I think.”

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The musical star added that later, he realised what the guitarist meant and it left a lasting comment on Rahman. He felt the words were true and he subsequently, changed his perception and direction. After seven years, the ace musical composer was able to find his own style. “At the moment, I didn’t realise what he meant, but weeks later, it hit me, and I realised that whatever he said was right. When I thought deeply about his remark about me, I realised that I was getting influenced by the composers I was playing for.” Rahman added that he gradually began to realise his style. “After this, I consciously began to move away from it. And my mental journey of identifying ‘what will be my style’ began. It took me about seven years, and I completely moved away from the influences.”

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Revealing how he took the comment in his stride, he worked on it. Although the guitarist didn’t make a distasteful comment, it took Rahman seven years to come to terms with it. During his impressive career, AR Rahman has created era-defining music and composed hit film soundtracks including ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ‘Roja,’ ‘Bombay,’ and ‘Rang De Basanti’ among others.