AR Rahman-Saira Banu divorce: When Oscar-winner musician REVEALS how he met his wife

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AR Rahman’s wife, Saira Banu, has announced her separation from the acclaimed music composer after 29 years of marriage. The announcement, which was announced in a statement on Tuesday evening, validated the couple's choice to split after a protracted emotional ordeal.

In her statement, Saira discussed their unwavering love but also acknowledging the unsolvable problems in their relationship, which made separation the only practical option.

An old interview of AR Rahman talking about his wife has come out online during the news, providing insight into their formative years. Rahman said in the interview how his mother and sister acted as matchmakers when they first met Saira at a Chennai Sufi shrine.

Talking about how he met his wife Saira for the first time, Rahman told media, “In 1994, I decided that it was time to get married. For some reason, I started to feel old. I was always very shy and never talked much to girls. I met many young women singers in my studio when we used to work together. I had great respect for them. But I never looked at a girl thinking that she could be my wife one day. I was working round the clock."

Speaking asked about his first impression of Saira, the singer said, “She was beautiful and gentle. We met for the first time on 6 January 1995, on my twenty-eighth birthday. It was a brief meeting. After that we mostly chatted on the phone. Saira speaks Kutchi and English and I asked her in English if she wanted to marry me. Saira was very quiet in those days. Now she’s anything but quiet."

The interview was originally published in Nasreen’s book, A.R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music. The couple married on March 12, 1995, in Chennai, marking the beginning of a nearly three-decade-long partnership.