Michael Jackson nearly sang for Rajinikanth's 'Enthiran,' reveals AR Rahman
What's the story
Acclaimed music composer AR Rahman recently disclosed an interesting tidbit about his interaction with the late pop legend, Michael Jackson.
At a fan event in Malaysia, Rahman revealed that Jackson almost provided vocals for the Tamil film Enthiran, featuring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
The meeting between the two icons took place in Los Angeles in 2009, following Rahman's Oscar nomination for Slumdog Millionaire.
Meeting details
Rahman's encounter with Jackson post Oscar win
Rahman initially expressed interest in meeting Jackson, but received no response until his Oscar nomination.
"Michael's team said he wanted to meet me. I said, I don't want to meet him now. I'll meet him when I've won an Oscar," Rahman shared with Free Malaysia Today.
After winning the award, he met Jackson and described the experience as feeling "top of the world."
They discussed music and world peace during their meeting in LA.
Missed opportunity
Potential collaboration with Jackson for 'Enthiran' thwarted
Upon returning to India, Rahman discussed his meeting with director Shankar, who suggested that Jackson could sing for Enthiran.
"Shankar sir asked me if he would sing for the film. I said, wow, will he sing a Tamil song? He said, whatever you say, we'll do together," Rahman recounted.
However, this collaboration did not come to pass due to Jackson's sudden death in June 2009.
Career progression
'Enthiran' success and Rahman's continued musical journey
Enthiran achieved significant success with its original soundtrack (OST).
A sequel, 2.0, also composed by Rahman, was released in 2018 featuring Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, and Amy Jackson.
In related news, Rahman's non-participation in Shankar's Indian 2 was due to his commitment to 2.0.
"When we started work on Indian 2, AR Rahman was already working on the BGM of 2.0 and I needed the songs soon," recently explained director Shankar.