AR Rahman opens up about his name change!

Did you know that before naming himself, Allah Rakha Rahman, AR Rahman the music composer’s name was Dilip Kumar and he had to change it when he was 21 as he felt suicidal tendencies more often during the time? The master composer himself revealed about it.

“During the period, I felt a void without my father in my life. I used to work as much as I can to help my family but by 22, I had it all. I needed something new and felt like I am no good. By 21, I felt suicide is the only option that I have to escape everything I feel. I wanted to quit everything and change myself so much but I couldn’t until I changed my name,” shared master composer.

He later said the reason behind changing his name from Dileep Kumar to AR Rahman and taking Sufi Islam as his religion, is the same emptiness.

“I never liked my original name Dileep Kumar. I don’t even know why I hated it. I felt it didn’t match my personality. I wanted to become another person. I felt like that would define and change my whole (being). I wanted to get rid of all the past luggage,” said the composer.

Well, today he is the only Oscar-winning composer from India and he still feels he needs to do something new all the time.

“You manifest who you are and let it out. So when you are ideating on your mental drawing book, you need a lot of self-analysis and you have to dive deep within you.

“You need to listen to yourself. It’s hard to listen to your inner side. But once you do, you have to let lose and forget yourself,” he added.