AR Rahman teases wife Saira Banu to not 'talk in Hindi' at public event

AR Rahman, Saira Banu — Image Source : FILE IMAGE AR Rahman with wife Saira Banu

Music composer AR Rahman asked his wife Saira Banu to speak in Tamil and not in Hindi at an event. A video of the same went viral on social media. Recently, the musician attended the Vikatan Cinema awards show in Chennai with Saira and was honoured, where he invited his wife up on stage to say a few words and accept the trophy alongside him. When Ponniyin Selvan 2 music composer handed the mic to his wife, he told her not to speak in Hindi.

As Saira stood next to him, AR Rahman spoke in Tamil, "I don’t like to watch my interviews again. She keeps playing again and again and watching because she loves my voice." Saira Banu smiled over this statement. The anchor then asked Saira to speak. Before she was about the address the audience, AR Rahman told her, "Don’t talk in Hindi, speak in Tamil." Saira closed her eyes and said, "Oh my God." The audience burst into laughter.

Later, she greeted the crowd and added, "Sorry, I can’t speak fluently in Tamil. So, please excuse me. I am super happy and excited because his voice is my favourite. I fell in love with his voice. That’s all I can say."

For the unversed, born in a Hindu family, A.R. Rahman was originally named as Dileep Kumar. He later converted to Islam after he met his spiritual guru, Sufi saint Qadri Islam, in his 20s. Later, he married the love of his life, Saira Banu. He married Saira in 1995 and the couple gave birth to three children-- Khateeja Rahman (daughter), Rahima Rahman (daughter), and A.R. Ameen (son).

AR Rahman has often opened up about his family. Recently, he talked about his daughter Khatija's song Sagavasi and said, "As a father I am always proud of her, she is a unique daughter, she has her own personality....lot of tough things on social media, she has single-handedly fought all those wars and yet she is kind. She is an amazing human being and god bless her."