AR Rahman recently shared the fascinating story behind his iconic song Khwaja Mere Khwaja from Jodha Akbar. He revealed how the soulful track wasn’t originally meant for the film but it later became linked to his double Oscar win for Slumdog Millionaire.
Inspiration from Ajmer
In conversation with NDTV, Rahman, “I’d gone to Ajmer. One of the Khadims there said, ‘Why don’t you do a song on Khwaja? You’re not doing one. You’ve done ‘Piya Haji Ali’ (from Khalid Mohamed’s 2000 action thriller Fiza).’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I’m not getting it. Why don’t you pray I should get it?.”Rahman shared that while on a flight to Australia, he was trying to compose a romantic tune but couldn’t get it right. So, he decided to turn it into a song dedicated to Khwaja. “I recorded the full track and asked Kashif to write the lyrics. A year later, Ashutosh narrated Jodha Akbar to me,” he recalled.
Convincing Gowariker to use the song
Ashutosh Gowariker explained that Mughal king Akbar (played by Hrithik Roshan) visits the Khwaja Dargah Sharif in Ajmer, which was small at the time. Rahman recalled, “‘Woah! I have a song,’ I said. But he replied, ‘I don’t want a song. I just need two lines.’ I offered to make another, but he insisted, ‘No no, play it.’”After listening to the full song, Gowariker held Rahman’s hands and kept saying, “Please give this song to me.” Rahman recalled, “I said, ‘Okay, but you can’t change anything.’” He added, “And then two years later, I got the Oscars,” crediting Khwaja Mere Khwaja as Khwaja’s blessings.
The story behind Mayya from Guru
AR Rahman revealed that he also got the idea for the song Mayya from Mani Ratnam’s Guru (2007) during a spiritual trip. “I was doing Haj, and people selling water were saying, ‘Moya! Moya!’ I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a hook for a song!’ The song Mayya doesn’t actually relate to water; it’s just inspired by the sound,” he said. Written by Gulzar, the song featured Abhishek Bachchan and Mallika Sherawat.
Devotional inspiration from Lata Mangeshkar
While not directly linked to religion, Rahman shared another song he created for devotional reasons. His late father used to compose music every morning in front of Lata Mangeshkar’s portrait, and Rahman always wished to work with her. She later sang iconic tracks like O Paalanhaare from Lagaan (2001) and Jiya Jale from Dil Se (1998).But Rahman wanted to sing a duet with Mangeshkar purely out of desire. He convinced director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra to include the song Luka Chuppi in Rang De Basanti (2006), where R. Madhavan’s character sings from beyond the grave to console his mother, played by Waheeda Rehman, with Mangeshkar lending her voice.
