AR Rahman asks wife Saira Banu to speak in Tamil, not Hindi at award show; viral video divides internet - Watch

The Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman tied the knot with Saira Banu in 1995 and the couple are parents to three children namely Khatija Rahman, Rahima Rahman, and AR Ameen. Rahman and Saira attended the Ananda Vikatan Cinema awards show in Chennai recently where the composer won the trophy for his brilliant soundtracks last year in Ponniyin Selvan I, Venthu Thanindhathu Kaadu, and Cobra.

Now, a video is going viral across the internet in which the multiple National Award-winning musician is asking his wife to speak in Tamil and not Hindi. As the two came on the stage to collect the award, Rahman said, "I don’t like to watch my interviews again. She keeps playing again and again and watching because she loves my voice". 

Then, the host asked Saira to speak something, and before she could talk to the audience, Rahman told her, "Don’t talk in Hindi, speak in Tamil." She then said, "Oh my God. Good evening everyone. Sorry, I can't speak fluently in Tamil. So, please excuse me. I am super, super happy, and excited because his voice is my favourite. I fell in love with his voice. That's all I can say."

Since the video has been trending on social media, one section of the audience has come in support of Rahman as this was an event held in Chennai with the majority of the audience being Tamil, the other section has been criticising him as to why did he not let her speak in Hindi, the same language in which he also composes music in.

One Twitter user replied, "Yea, more Tamil-speaking audience and that's why he told her to speak Tamil. But she did fine, spoke in English...neither Tamil nor Hindi", while another added, "Tamil is a beautiful language but see how male domination goes on even in this so-called educated and modern family."

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— black cat (@Catoffi) April 25, 2023

Tamil is a beautiful language but see how male domination goes on even in this so called educated and modern family.

— Manav Bhardwaj (@ManavIndia1) April 26, 2023

Yea...more Tamil speaking audience...and thats why he told her to speak Tamil! Its ok..!
But she did fine!! Spoke in English..neither Tamil nor Hindi!!
Most of them speak/ understand simple English!
Well done Mr n Mrs ARR..love you both...from Malaysia!

— Nirmaladevi Devarajoo (@NDevarajoo) April 26, 2023

Converted to a foreign religion, came to fame by playing musical instruments made by foreign religion people but has a problem in speaking one of the most spoken language of a country we're he was born?

— srini nidhi (@SriniNidhi) April 26, 2023

She neither spoke Hindi nor Tamil....and I think that's the best thing she can do there...she spoke english because English is a common language for both North and South Indian....BTW Sai pallavi looked adorable as always

— Indian__human (@Indian__human) April 26, 2023

Meanwhile, AR Rahman's next big release is Mani Ratnam's magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan 2, which is slated to release in theatres on April 28. The period action drama film features an ensemble of actors including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Prakash Raj amongst others.

READ | AR Rahman recalls hilarious incident at the security check when he arrived with his two Oscars in India