AR Rahman reveals Hollywood’s darker side

Despite winning an Oscar, Indian music composer AR Rahman reveals his dissatisfaction with Hollywood.

A number of times, AR Rahman’s achievements have made us proud of our nation. Two Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song went to his score for Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. Nevertheless, the Indian musical composer feels pigeonholed in Hollywood despite having accomplished such enormous achievements.

Aside from being nominated for an Academy Award, AR’s talent has also earned him nominations for up to six National Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award. In an ideal world, he would have been successful and enjoying his status as a global icon, much like actress Priyanka Chopra did. However, the musician is now expressing his dissatisfaction because he felt in some ways trapped.

AR Rahman exposed the dark side of Hollywood as he shared, “As an Indian composer, winning an Oscar and all that stuff, there is a pigeonhole you are put into. ‘Oh Indian stuff, let’s go to AR!’ Even though I have done 127 Hours, Pele and other stuff but still the urge… There’s nothing bad with that. I am doing a lot of Indian movies. I love doing Indian movies. I am proud. But I also love to do something that is completely unrelated to India as a creative expression. To get those is very difficult in Hollywood; all the places are already taken.”

A lot of attention was also drawn to AR Rahman when he admitted that he preferred R Madhavan’s Rocketry: The Nambi Effect to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

On a professional level, Rahman composed the music for Ponniyin Selvan II by Mani Ratnam.