A R Rahman was in the news last week when he announced his separation from his wife, Saira Banu, after being married to her for 29 years. The Oscar-winning musician was also trolled as he used a hashtag in the tweet in which he announced his separation. After this episode, A R Rahman finally made his first public appearance at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Wednesday, November 27. He attended the session ‘Lata Mangeshkar Memorial Talk: Musical Theatre in India’ at the beautiful Kala Academy where he spoke highly of the legendary singer.
A R Rahman began by saying, “Getting praise from her was very difficult (laughs) because she had attained that level of perfection! She would ask me, ‘What is this little room (in your studio)?’, ‘What is happening?’.”
A R Rahman then talked about working with Lata Mangeshkar on the song ‘Laadli’ for Kapil Sibal’s album, Raunaq: Conversation Of Music And Poetry. He revealed, “In 2014, when I was working on Kapil Sibal ji’s album, she was not well. I waited for her for three months. She quickly recorded other songs but for this song, she had some apprehension. Finally, she gave a date, and I came all the way from Los Angeles to record her. I went to the studio, and she said, ‘I don’t feel well’ (laughs). So, I went back to LA!”
The music composer continued, “Her body of work, aura, sacrifice and dedication to the art were (unparalleled).”
A few hours after this memorable talk, A R Rahman will attend the IFFI screening of his documentary, Headhunting To Beatboxing at Inox Panaji. He has produced this acclaimed documentary, which has also been screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2024 and Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2024.