WTF by People: Nikhil Kamath X A. R. Rahman
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1. On Loss, Grief, and Finding Solace in Music: Nikhil Kamath opens the conversation by exploring A.R. Rahman’s early years in Chennai and Bangalore, and how those experiences shaped his worldview and music.
Rahman revisits his early childhood, marked by loss and emotional upheaval. “My father passed away when I was nine. My grandmother passed away, too. I used to see trauma every day. Every day I used to wake up to that.” He recalls the weight of grief that shadowed his school years, and the years it took to reclaim a sense of normalcy.
He credits his mother for anchoring him during those turbulent years and encouraging him to hone his musical skills. “My mother was a single, confident lady. She took all the pain. She protected us from, and she was so strong that, withstanding all the kinds of humiliations, she single-handedly brought us up and encouraged me to go into music.”
Nikhil asks how such loss shapes one’s outlook on life. Rahman responds, saying, “It affects you because that's the only thing you have - your parents. That's the only holding ground for you. Your dad is your first, and your mother is the angel, a safe place to go. The lap is the safe place to sleep. That's why the respect for my mother or my father is still there.”
Working in studios from a young age, Rahman describes how the console became his classroom. “My whole childhood was with 40-year-old and 50-year-old and 60-year-old in the studio playing music. And I missed all the fun with friends and all that stuff at school. No college. School is about understanding humanity, seeing each other, and learning things from other kids. That I missed, definitely.”
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2. Roja: The Turning Point: Nikhil turns to the moment of transformation and asks how Rahman’s journey into becoming a musical legend truly began, adding with a smile, “I am such a big fan… your song Tu Hi Re, I think I must have heard that song through so many heartbreaks and falling in love.”
He remembers the turning point in his career, “Magic happened when I built my studio. It's when I felt empowered. Like I had something which nobody had.” Rahman reflects on Roja and how it became a defining project, “Roja changed everything. Mani Ratnam is one of the top directors; every actor, every composer wanted to work with him. He is one of the top-notch still.”
Rahman recalls a pivotal conversation with Mani Ratnam that shaped his creative path. He recalls telling Mani Ratnam, “I am very satisfied working with you. I don’t want to work with other people. I’ll just do jingles or private albums.” Mani gently pushed back: “No, you should work with everyone.” Rahman laughs about it now, admitting that for the first ten years he still felt, “Okay, enough.”
After witnessing how the film industry “consumed” his father, A.R. Rahman became determined to protect his creative integrity by working selectively. His move to England for Bombay Dreams allowed him to recharge and expand artistically, leading to a lifelong commitment to learning and experimentation. Today, he continues evolving through new technologies like granular synthesis, algorithmic composition, and AI-assisted editing.
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3. Beyond Success: Living Simply: When asked if he ever felt impostor syndrome, A.R. Rahman admits, “Always. That’s why I surrender.” He connects this humility to his personal choices and lifestyle, saying that even as a wealthy man, he prefers simplicity and consistency.
Recalling the early days of his career, Rahman says, “When I was doing Roja, I didn’t have money for even putting petrol.” He explains that what matters most to him is sustainability and sincerity over showmanship: “Consistently doing something good for a longer time is better than doing everything at one time and then not having money. So I believe that consistency is very important.”
For him, living simply isn’t a constraint but a philosophy: “Your lifestyle, even whether you have money or not, can be the same… You can travel, you can eat anywhere you want, but you don’t want to show the whole world what you are. And then it’s a fake pompousness.”
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4. From Tradition to Global Sound: When asked about the change in India’s musical landscape during his rise, A.R. Rahman explains that before Roja, “There was a traditional kind of music, which is beautiful. And there’s a beauty in it still. Because I’m not made of that. My sensibility was different.” His influences came from diverse genres. “I was in a band. I like jazz. I like rock. I like Qawwali. I like Carnatic. I like Hindustani.” This eclectic taste made him want to move beyond the formulaic sound of the time.
Describing the turning point with Roja, Rahman says his goal was to make Indian music global: “My intention was when I met Mani Ratnamji, I said, when we are listening to Pink Floyd, McQueen, John Williams, Evangelist, Beatles, Michael Jackson, they don’t listen to us. So what’s the reason? Language, production, vibe, feel, recording. Multiple things. So I addressed all the stuff.”
He deliberately slowed his pace to focus on quality and innovation: “Each Tamil song I do should go around the world. And it was planned. I worked for it. That’s why I did less work… I need time to heal, I need time to listen to it, I need time to change, I need to evolve a song.”
Rahman also shares a broader vision for Indian music, especially classical traditions: “Indian classical music never had its day under the sun… We need to position classical music in a very higher way.” He believes in the guru-shishya spirit, “Not just the knowledge of ragas but the spirit of giving from a guru. Only India sees that.”
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5. AI Won’t Replace Artists, It’ll Redefine Them: As the conversation drifts toward the future, Nikhil Kamath brings up the inevitable question: How does artificial intelligence change the meaning of creativity?
Nikhil opines, “Creativity will become more relevant in the world of AI.” Rahman agrees and further adds, “It’s a very empowering tool for younger people who don’t have access to make a movie or make art or they don’t know how to paint, but they have a vision.” He notes that AI will also push artists to evolve. “You have to be contrarian to whatever the predictive model is,” Rahman says. He notes that AI will also push artists to evolve. Citing the artist RAY, he explains that her recent song is “trying to beat AI” because its composition defies predictable patterns. “You have to be contrarian to whatever the predictive model is,” Rahman says.
Rahman emphasizes that his first message to every AI leader is ethical. “Don’t make people lose jobs. Empower people to remove the curses of generational poverty, misinformation, and lack of tools to create.” While he acknowledges AI’s potential to raise productivity, he warns that societies must shape it up and set rules so it doesn’t deepen inequality.
He believes AI should focus on tasks beyond human capacity, not replace human skills, and sees art as a crucial space for preserving humanity’s role. “AI can’t sing with a guitar in a house or teach in the human way.” This, he says, will make live performance, theatre, and symphonies even more valuable.
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6. Rahman’s Rules for a Creative Life: A.R. Rahman shares a deeply personal reflection on persistence, growth, and the evolving nature of art. “First you get mud, then you get water, then you get petrol, then you get gold, but you have to keep digging.”
He recalls how his own musical journey has always been one of self-discovery through constant practice and humility. “Every day I would go home from school and all I heard for the next four hours…” he says, explaining how music became his way of being rather than just a skill. He says, “Just don’t think negative stuff. Don’t worry about anything. Nobody cares. We’re all going to die one day.” He admits he never thought of himself as gifted: “When I was young, I felt I was very bad at music.” What made the difference was persistence and mentorship.
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7. AI will hurt musicians: A.R. Rahman’s upcoming project, “Secret Mountain” embodies his vision of blending technology and humanity. “We use the best of AI and we use the best of humans.” he says, believing such collaborations will create “So many jobs, so much of human contribution, that it becomes an industry by itself.” Looking ahead, he says, “I am looking forward to the success of Secret Mountain. If it deserves, we want to create something extraordinary from India to the world. Because we put three years of our life in it, we want to make this the most significant entity from India to the world.”
While he admits “AI in music will hurt musicians,” Rahman insists it can’t replace “the human way - passing on the spirit of music to a student.” For him, “live concerts, live dance, live musical theatre, symphonies will be respected even more.” He sees opportunity in “live experiences for young people who want to start a business,” as new “augmented musical gadgets, visual gadgets” make performances much more better now.
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8. On Sincerity, God, Loss and the Spirit of Music: When Nikhil compares Rahman to a God of music, Rahman very humbly laughs, saying, “I am not God, I am a servant. It just takes one second for people to completely turn the coin, so I don't take it seriously. I am sincere to what I believe in.” When asked about his personal life and inner world, A.R. Rahman opens up about the spiritual and altruistic journey that has guided him for nearly two decades. For him, sincerity defines success: “Sincerity is very important. If I am not sincere in my music, I am not sincere to myself.” He admits he can’t rest easy unless he gives his best: “I won’t be able to sleep if I let a mix pass by or a song which could be better and I didn’t work enough for that.”
When asked what he fears and what he looks forward to, A.R. Rahman responds with striking calm. “All the scary things have already happened in my life my father’s death, my grandmother’s death, my mother’s death.” Those losses, he says, transformed him completely: “It made me like completely numb, it made me zen mode, it made me believe that everybody is going to die.”
Through that realization, he found detachment. “Catching on to something, loving something deeply is unfortunately anti-spirituality, not anti-spirituality, the true love is the love for God.” For him, peace comes from faith: “If you believe in God, every breath is a blessing to me, every opportunity is a blessing to me. When I perform, I feel like it’s a shrine, we are all enjoying the fruits of oneness in a stadium.”
For Rahman, spirituality and art are inseparable. His faith led him to Sufism, which he describes as the journey of self-discovery through surrender. “The simple thing is to discover yourself.” Additionally, for him, kindness itself is worship: “Smiling at someone is the biggest charity, if you don’t have money to give, you smile at them.”
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9. Reinventing Cinema for Future India: A.R. Rahman remains hopeful about the future of movies but believes the industry must evolve to survive. “The movie theatre business is not going anywhere. It is going to stay. But it should be reinvented.” he says. For over a century, he notes, “we are still seeing a rectangular screen.” but the next phase lies in immersive storytelling.
But Rahman’s vision extends beyond screens. He calls for India to invest in world-class cultural spaces. “Even each metro can have one immersive theatre,” he suggests, lamenting that “We don’t even have a proper symphony hall in India. He also champions musical theatre as the next frontier, noting, “We have so many talented singers, actors here.”
For him, such spaces are essential, not extravagant. “People go abroad, see Phantom of the Opera or Hans Zimmer in Germany, and come back saying it’s so great. What about the person who can’t afford that? They also deserve to see it.” Rahman’s message is clear “You have a right to have proper infrastructure. It’s very important there should be enough places which bring hope.” With conviction, he adds, “Our country is now prosperous enough. This is for future India, for our youth, for our children to experience all this.”
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10. Beyond the Oscars: Success and Solitude: A.R. Rahman reflects on what winning international awards like the Oscars and Golden Globes actually feels like from the inside. “When you see from outside it’s much more fascinating than being inside,” he says.
The glamour, he explains, is mostly perception. He recalls watching the attention grow as Slumdog Millionaire gained momentum: “Nobody called me at first, then there was the Golden Globe - three people called. Then the next one is Oscar, a hundred people calling your name. I could see the whole evolution of how famous that movie and the music and you are all becoming.”
Rahman admits that constant travel and public attention drain him, making it difficult to maintain friendships and family life. “There’s no time. Even to spend time with family, I have to make sure I pull them for dinner or something. They all have their own lives.” His closest relationships, he says, are with the people he collaborates with: “All the directors are my friends. I never treat it like work.”
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11. Rahman’s Call to India’s Dreamers: When asked what kind of businesses young entrepreneurs in India could build in the live entertainment space, A.R. Rahman advises them to “find the void.” He points out that creative industries in India, from design to technology, are still brimming with untapped potential. “I find void in art, artistic stuff, fashion, even furniture.” he says. He also highlights the absence of Indian-made musical instruments.
Within entertainment, Rahman believes musical theatre and state orchestras are India’s next frontiers. “Having an orchestra in every state is very important, having a world-class, changing entertainment,” he says.
