AR Rahman reveals the condition he placed before meeting Michael Jackson in 2009

AR Rahman and Michael Jackson

Ace music composer AR Rahman is a global name. In the year 2009, before he won his first Oscar, Rahman had declined the offer to meet Michael Jackson. He had placed a condition before he met the world famous pop singer. Rahman got a mail from Jackson's manager saying that he wanted to meet him. The mail came after he was nominated for the Oscars. Rahman said he would meet the singer after he wins the award.

In a video shared by Free Malaysia Today on YouTube, AR Rahman said, "At the beginning of 2009, I was in LA with my agent. He introduced me to another person, his friend, who managed Michael Jackson. I tested my waters. I said, ‘Can I meet Michael Jackson?' And he said, ‘Sure, I'll send out an email'. There was no response in the first week. I was just quiet, and I said, ‘It's fine'."

Rahman continued, "And then the nominations happened, and I got nominated for the Oscars. Then, the email came in, and it said, ‘Michael wants to meet you'. But I said, ‘I don't want to meet him now'." Rahman added, "I said, ‘I don't want to meet him. If I win an Oscar, I'll meet him, otherwise, I won't.' I was sure I was going to win. I won, and the next day, I went to meet him. It was almost 6:30 pm, and the sun was going down. And then, somebody opened the door with gloves on…"

Rahman said that he spoke to Jackson about his music, world peace and his popular dance moves. Jackson also raised Rahman for his work in Slumdog Millionaire for which he also won the Oscar. "He introduced me to his kids, but I was jet-lagged because I'd been working day and night. I was waiting to return to India… It was unforgettable," he said.

After the meeting when Rahman returned to India, he started working on Shankar's 'Enthiran' starring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai. Shankar asked him to try a collaboration with Jackson. Rahman recalled, "I said, ‘Wow, will he do a Tamil song?' And I called him, and we spoke that week. He said, ‘Whatever you say, we will do it together'. We met again, but unfortunately, he passed away in 2009. He was sick at the time."

On the work front, Rahman's documentary 'Headhunting to Beatboxing' directed by Rohit Gupta will have its premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM)2024, Australia.