A.R. Rahman initially believed that ‘doing great things’ in music was different from scoring for films, the Oscar-winning composer said in the latest episode of Amazon Music’s new series The Universe Of, adding that he had to bring his kind of music into movies later on in his career.

“For me movies were different and doing great things in music were different. The connection I had to do was to bring what I wanted to do in music, into movies,” Rahman said in the first episode of the series that promises to offer a peek into the lives of musical icons.

When asked about the ruling forces in his universe — whether chaos, chance, or precision — Rahman responded with his characteristic calm demeanour: “My universe is ruled by hope”.

Talking about his initiation into the world of music, Rahman recalled accompanying his father to recordings of Malayalam films. “He used to arrange, compose and conduct.They used to send me along with his lunch. So, I used to hang out for a few hours.”

Speaking about his first big break, Rahman said, “I loved the experience of doing Roja. It was like getting a jackpot. Getting one of the best directors whom I adored working with me… that itself was very satisfying. There were a lot of questions. Will people throw the music at my face? Will I bring him down? But they were answered when it won several awards.”

The maestro also described how Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Bombay Dreams turned out to be a turning point in his career. “I was in a trap, a good trap, from the age of 12 in the film industry. Again, as a composer for another ten years. So, my only escape to see what life was on the other side, was to do the musical.”

“If I had not done that, maybe my evolution of artistry would have ended. I would’ve become more India-centric. Oscars may not have happened. I would not have understood the West more and where we stood in perspective to the West,” he further said.

Delving into his personal life, Rahman described his mother Kareema Begum as his “savage critic”. “She was like a fort, preventing all the bad energies from coming to me,” he added. The 57-year-old said that his wife Saira Banu takes care of his health so that he can concentrate on music. He also described his daughters as always questioning his decisions.

“All of these women are precious jewels of my life,” he said.

Speaking about his most-recent film album, Amar Singh Chamkila, Rahman described how he conducted workshops to integrate Punjabi music into the score. “We had workshops. We brought in the Punjabi dhol, Punjabi singers, Punjabi Algoza, Punjabi Thumbi. We were just jamming for like three days.”

Regarding Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan, he said he didn’t want the album to sound like other sports films he had done in the past, like Lagaan, Pele and Bigil. “If I don’t like this movie, if I don’t like the songs in this movie, it’s a waste. I should not be doing this movie. So, we just jammed for like three to four days. Most of the songs happened really fast. Only Team India took three to four iterations” he said.