AR Rahman recalls losing his father at the age of nine; calls it the ‘darkest phase’ of his life, ‘I mainly lived in hospitals… ‘

However, stepping into the showbiz and standing true to his ground was not a piece of cake for Rahman. In a recent interview, he opened up about the darkest phase of his life, when his dad was undergoing treatment.

Rahman shed some light on how he started working at a tender age and much more. Talking in an interview with the YouTube channel O2India, Rahman said, “My childhood was not a normal one. I was a bit secluded. I mainly lived in hospitals with my father getting treatment. And at the age of 11 or 12, I started working. I didn’t have the privilege of going out or playing sports. But, I had personal time, which I spent mostly with music. Which is in a way was a blessing.”

Rahman recalled how he was pulled out from the middle of a class at school and told to get back home at once. His father was sick for about four years and passed away in 1976 when he was in 4th standard.

“I can still remember me cremating him. Setting him on fire. I was as young as nine. And that’s one imagery in my life never goes off. That memory still haunts me. But, it makes me understand life better because it all happened at very early stages of my life. It has given me something a normal kid could never have had,” he said.