Forgive them O Lord, for they know not what they do!!!

"My work has always been better than Rahman's. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was better than Taal, and Devdas was better than Saathiya. Foreigners encouraged him so people think he is very good. I wonder why people run after name and fame, and not good work. Kyunki hamare yahan bahut kum akal ke log hai (we have very few intelligent people here). We see some foreigners holding someone's hand, and he becomes a big man. I am not saying this because of jealousy. This is the bitter truth." Ismail Darbar said. 28^th March 2005

Rahman was paid only Rs. 25000/- ($900 USD) for his work in Roja!! Roja has been rated as one of the top 10 music albums of all times by the Time Magazine.

Mani Ratnam dropped a song from 'Bombay' to release the film earlier. Heaven knows what we lost!!!

A well-known composer from Bollywood said on the release of Roja, "Let us see if he is around after two years, Rahman's type of music is just a temporary passing fad which will wear out once the crowd gets used to his music, he will not be able to sustain himself".

With the release of Taal, Nadeem-Shravan said “Rahman is at his worst now! As for Taal, I would give it 70 out of 100. Our film Pardes would get a 100 on 100!”

Rahman refused to be drawn in to a war of words and responded characteristically with a very curt "Music speaks, statements don't.". And as expected he replied with his music which blew all the other composers out of the scene. ^:)^