Hollywood has not always been very inclusive of Indians in their midst and while the ground reality might be slowly changing now, things were not the same almost a decade ago when AR Rahman was actively working in the West.
The musician recently talked about his exposure in Hollywood after he won the Oscar for 'Slumdog Millionaire'. "The doors that opened were… Everyone knows me in Hollywood even if I don't know them. I was the only brown guy," he said.
Rahman recalled that after he won the Oscar and was a part of the Academy, he would often get invited to parties.
"Because I'm a member of the Academy, I'll get all those invitations. Spielberg invites you; JJ Abrams invites you; 'Disney' invites you, so I went for everything," he said.
"So, all the stuff I never did. I went and met people and even though I would not stay there much because of loud music and people drinking and claustrophobia. So, I will just say hey and leave," he recalled.
But the one incident that stood out in his memory was when he was attending a party by 'Disney' for their 2013 film 'Frozen'. Rahman recalled that around the same time, it was the 90th birth anniversary of Walt Disney.
"I remember going to the 'Disney' party and I was doing 'Million Dollar Arm' (at the time), so they invited me for 'Frozen' (party). It was also the 90th birthday of Walt Disney so there was a statue of him. So, I was taking a selfie (with the statue), I look back and 100 people were looking at me. I was the only brown person there," he said.