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

The Academy has been releasing special videos as a run-up to the 95th Oscars on March 12. In a video that it shared on its social media as part of the series ‘Behind the Oscars Speech’, the Indian music composer AR Rahman was seen recollecting memories related to his Oscars win in 2009.

AR Rahman won two Oscar statuettes for Best Original Score for Slumdog Millionaire and Best Original Song for Jai Ho, along with the lyricist Gulzar, at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009. The Danny Boyle-directed drama itself won six other Oscars that night including the ones for Best Picture and Best Director.

In the latest video, Rahman said that he “felt like a Gladiator” after winning the Oscars. The musician also added that he didn’t prepare his speech and decided to “go with the flow”. He went on to explain how Penelope Cruz, who received the Best Supporting Actress award, and the 2008 global financial crisis influenced his speeches while receiving his two awards. 

The Padma Bhushan awardee also went on to recollect a hilarious incident at the security check when he arrived with his two Oscars in India. “After I got the Oscars, I put it in my hand baggage and the security, when I was getting to India, they said, “Can you wait?”. And they were almost like 100 people in the security check. So the officer took these 2 Oscars, ‘Look what I have’ and everybody went gaga. They were just, ‘Oh my God”, said Rahman.

Apart from Gulzar and Rahman, Resul Pookutty also won the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing, along with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp, for Slumdog Millionaire. The other two Indians to win the prestigious award are Bhanu Athaiya for Best Costume Design for the 1982 film Gandhi and Satyajit Ray winning the Academy Honorary Award in 1991.