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"It’s the same show, but it’s not the same show." AR Rahman says with a laugh, about the larger-than-life, nearly magical experience that is the Wonderment Tour. The tour began in Navi Mumbai at the Waves conference early last year, travelled far and wide across the globe, and is back in India for two stops this November.
This time, the maestro brings the tour home for two mystical evenings — first at Mumbai's Jio World Garden on November 1, followed by the tour's first-ever stop in Delhi, at the Backyard Sports Club on November 21 — reminiscing his most loved tracks and performances with many of the biggest names in Indian film music. He reveals how from Chhaava to Main Vaapas Aaunga, and now Ramayana, new films throughout the year make every show better than the last.
It is a fitting moment for Rahman, who is simultaneously celebrating 34 years since his debut score, Mani Ratnam's Roja. The maestro hit the ground running with his debut, securing the National Film Award for Best Music Director with the score. Currently, in the days leading up to the biggest film of his career, Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, he is also co-writing his biography with Rupa Chakravarthi.
In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter India, the virtuoso looks back on ‘34 years of AR Rahman' — breaking into Hindi cinema as an outsider, the return of the Wonderment tour, and what 'ARR 34' really feels like.
Excerpts from the conversation:
You have said in an interview before that you're one of the only composers in India to have broken into Hindi cinema from another industry and stayed there. What was that process, and how did you adapt and sustain?
It was an accidental entry, actually. I never thought I would get such great reception and love from North India. Because I heard stories that nobody can ever enter, that it’s like an iron fort, and that singers could never sustain here.
Strangely, I had used a lot of North Indian ragas, like Desh, Pilu, Darbari. And unintentionally too, because I thought in Tamil, if I used these ragas, it’ll be different from other composers. That’s the reason I use them. But it resonated with North India so much because of that.
Then I realised, how do you keep sustaining? Because it’s such a great industry, there are so many expectations. There’s also constant noise that ‘he can’t sustain’, or ‘this is not his field’. There is constant criticism from the industry.
But then I had people like Subhash Ghai who were genuinely advising me. He said, 'You’re bringing such a new voice to this whole industry, and you should learn the language. Without learning the language, it’ll be difficult for you.' So I took that seriously, I kept a teacher.
Even though I can’t speak (in Hindi), I understand every word. A little bit from Urdu, and a little from Hindi — that helped me a great deal to phrase a sentence into music. Because I learned a bit of Arabic, Urdu was much simpler for me; sounds like tha, kha, for example.
What were the challenges at the time?
Sometimes, without knowing, you just do something, and it has a different vibe for people to listen to. My pronunciation is such that I overstress words so much that people smile and say, ‘Okay, that’s the way he pronounces.’
Right now, when I listen to two generations of people who listen to my voice, they're like, ‘Well, that's how you pronounce, right?’ That's unintentional; it’s not that I'm intentionally trying to do that.
My other challenge as a newcomer was that I had a small team. I would vibe with anybody, because everybody has a different vibe. I actually had to play most of the instruments and had to personally record what was going into the tape so that I could orient and get the sound and the vibe I needed.
For me, it was always about, 'What would I want to listen from myself? Will I listen to this stuff?' If I cringe at it, I know it’s not good. Because I wouldn’t be proud of giving this to somebody whom I respect. Would I play this to Mani Ratnam, whom I respect?
What, according to you, are the challenges faced by newcomers in the industry today?
Now kids are much smarter. This generation knows a lot more about sound and compression and vibe and everything, which is great. But the bigger challenge is the onset of AI. A lyric writer can become a composer now. It’s good, but after a while you understand what is real and what is not real.
There are bigger challenges now, but ultimately it’s about storytelling. It’s about being true to what you’re trying to do.
Is there a newcomer in the industry today whose work is exciting you?
Recently I listened to Raghav Kaushik on 'Darmiyaan', in Musafir Café, and I really liked his voice. I listened to what he composed almost 20 times. Then I called him.
And he's a part of Ramayana. He sang for the Kannada and Telugu albums. It very nice to see new people coming in.
You embarked on the Wonderment Tour with the first stop in Navi Mumbai, and now you're bringing the show back to India with a show in Mumbai. It's a full circle.
It is really good, because at that point, for the Waves conference, I think that show really began well for a tour. Then we went to the US, then we did Hyderabad, Bangalore, now back to Mumbai.
But in between, there's so many new movies, new soundtracks, new songs that have come. Main Vaapas Aaunga came earlier this year, and now Ramayana has come. It's nice; the show keeps changing, it keeps evolving.
It's the same show, but it's not the same show!
With each new release, the next show seems to bring something different. As you return with the tour to Mumbai and Delhi this November, there must be a whole lot of excitement for new additions to the setlist.
Yeah, absolutely. During the last show, it was Chhaava that released at that time, and then we did songs from Chhaava. Main Vaapas Aaunga was happening like three, four months back. Now the Ramayana soundtrack is released.
All those songs became very popular. Also new singers have evolved. It's really nice to bring in some new talent—I feel like it's pretty extraordinary.
You mentioned the challenges posed by AI. How does artificial intelligence impact you in 2026?
Ten years ago, I wanted to do certain things, but there were so many limitations with being a brown person or an Indian. Now, it's empowering to have tools that can surpass that and empower us so that we can do things we never thought of doing before. I feel like it's an interesting, and I feel this is a blessed time now. You could say it's a curse; you could say it's a blessing also. I feel like I am learning.
Earlier this year, you had announced that you will be co-writing your biography, Rahman: A Renaissance, with Rupa Chakravarthi — another form of looking back at this whirlwind of a career. How is that going?
Rupa is very persistent and very intelligent (laughs). She looks at my story in a very different way. When she came to me, her vision was very interesting. She said, ‘Why don't we do something more edgy rather than the usual biography?’ So I said, ‘let’s take the challenge and see what happens.‘
I think her whole idea was to see: ‘How does one rise up like a phoenix every time they push you down?’
With the biggest film of your career, Ramayana, on release, a year-long and still running global tour, and co-writing your biography — what does it feel like to look back on 34 years of AR Rahman?
What I’ve realised is, I've been doing too much work, so now I’m doing less. I want to do less work, have more time to study nature, be with family, all that stuff.
You constantly work; you become like a slave to it, which you should not be.
I'm just taking things one by one. This is a very interesting phase of my life. When you look back, 34 years have gone by since the first movie. So I'm celebrating 'ARR 34'; I don’t go beyond that right now!
In your upcoming slate of projects is a full circle reunion with your debut director, Mani Ratnam, on Inji Vellam. How is the project coming along, and how does the rest of your work calendar look?
A lot of very, very challenging projects! Not just as a composer; as a creator.
With Inji Vellam, he (Ratnam) has finished shooting, and we’re going to score the songs in it now.
From Roja in 1992 to Ramayana today, simply put: How does AR Rahman do it?
I get bored. That's the answer. Because when I get bored, I feel like, ‘Oh, this is so boring. Let's do something exciting!’ Then something comes to me, and I say, ‘Oh, what if you put this and this into that?’ And then I blow up all my money on that.