AR Rahman and Saira Banu announced their divorce on Tuesday night in a joint statement by their lawyer. The couple’s decision to separate comes after a long period of emotional strain, as the statement mentions. Amid the divorce news, an old interview of the musician has resurfaced where he talked about their first meeting and the early years of their relationship, which is now going viral. He also revealed in the interview how his mother and sister had a role in his marriage after they first met Saira at a Sufi shrine in Chennai.

Originally published in Nasreen Munni Kabir’s book, A.R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music, the Oscar-winning music composer got candid about his relationship with Saira, and even shared how he never had eyes for any other woman even when he was young. “In 1994, when I was about twenty-seven, 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 didn’t have the time to think about girls. I was working round the clock,” AR Rahman shared. 

But things took a turn when he first met Saira. “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 musician reminisced.

AR Rahman and Saira Banu got married on March 12, 1995, in Chennai, and were married for 29 years before announcing their separation.

 An old interview of the musician has resurfaced where he talked about their first meeting and the early years of their relationship