January 17th, 2009
A.R. Rahman, had a hero's welcome at Chennai airport on Pongal day (Jan 14) after winning the prestigious Golden Globe award for original music score for Slumdog Millionaire.
Rahman reached Chennai from Frankfurt by a Lufthansa aircraft during the early hours of Wednesday and a huge gathering was there to receive him including 100 artistes performing in the ongoing Chennai Sangamam.
From the airport, a visibly tired Rahman headed straight to his house in Samiar Madam, Kodambakkam and reached there by 2.30am.
The 43-year-old man, who has captured the imagination of a nation of a billion people and has taken Indian music to dizzy eights refused to agree that he was the best musician in the country. He said: "In fact, there are greater musicians in the world than me. I am very happy and I dedicate this award to my country".
Later he met the media at his house and said: "Personally the award means nothing to me. I don't think that Slumdog Millionaire which fetched me the Golden Globe was my best album in the last 16 years. But I thought that I should get it for India. It was worrying me that if I don't get it, I will be letting down millions of people. So when I got it, I was very happy."
Rahman also confessed that his wife Saira helped him to pick an Armani Suit in Thalinad which he wore at the Gloden Globe awards. Slumdog Millionaire is expected to release in India on Jan 23 and he concluded saying: "For me, this film is a dedication to H.Sridhar my sound engineer, who was like a brother, who passed away in December".
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