A R Rahman reveals he contemplated suicide while growing up, says 'I was a victim when I was young'

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Music composer A R Rahman said it is essential to heal all the wounds of the past if people want to create a positive and healthy environment for the newer generation. Speaking at the trailer launch of Shikara - The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits, which deals with the mass exodus of the community from the Valley, he said the film will help people is getting the "bad energy out".

"I personally think the revolution of human beings is to heal and we are almost selfish sometimes we don't think about our children and what we are going to give them. It is important to heal all the wounds of the past, so there is no ego here, everyone has hurt everybody, some less, some more.

"This movie is a healing movie, it is about getting that bad energy, out so that you can move on," Rahman told reporters here. Citing the example of the atrocities committed by German dictator Adolf Hitler, he said people need to move on and stop carrying the baggage of the past. "It is very easy to move on. There is so much of emotional baggage and bad memories, but if we keep carrying on those bad memories we are going to hurt our children.

Also read: Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Shikara revisits the horror of Kashmiri Pandit's exodus. Trailer out

"With natural disasters like a tsunami, global warming happening, things burning in Australia and America, we have more of that, do we need this also? We need to gang up, unite, fight that also. I wonder what are our children going to do, let us heal it for them."

The composer believes that if the whole world unites as one, then "separation is a devil's job, and the devil is actually lack of light". "It is actually darkness, not dark as colour. It is darkness, spiritual feeling. If you allow the devil to come within you, he will commit suicide because of lack of self-esteem, not being loved."

Rahman revealed he too had contemplated suicide while he was growing up. "I was also a victim when I was young, I had suicidal thoughts and if I would have died then there won't be 'Maa Tujhe Salaam' or 'Vande Mataram', then there wouldn't be two Oscars for India. So it is very important to not allow the negative satan to come in within families, cities, nations, this is the time to say that. It sounds cheesy and preachy. This is the truth."

Shikara - The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits, featuring two newcomers Sadia and Aadil Khan, is scheduled to be released on February 7.

(With PTI inputs)