AR Rahman's mother Kareema Begum passes away

Music maestro AR Rahman's mother Kareema Begum passed away on December 28, 2020. The Oscar-winning musician paid a tribute to his mother by sharing a photo on his Twitter page. Rahman was always close to his mother and often remembered her during his stage shows and also while receiving several accolades across the globe. Kareema Begum was born Kasthuri and changed the name after Rahman changed his from Dilip Kumar.

Earlier during an interaction with Chennai Times, the Mozart of Madras had shared an anecdote of his mother stating, "My mother (Kasturi Shekhar) realized (his musical instincts), not me. My father was an arranger for composers and a Man Friday for many of them. Those days composers were Carnatic musicians, who would write the tunes and my father would arrange the music and so, he would be working with eight composers at the same time, working night and day. He died when I was just nine years old. Till five years after my father died, my mother would rent out his musical instruments to run the house after which she was advised to sell the equipment and live with the interest, but she refused to say. No, I have my son. He will take care."

AR Rahman added, "She has music instincts. Spiritually she is much higher than me in the way she thinks and takes decisions. For instance, her decision of making me take up music. She made me leave school in Class XI and take up music and it was her conviction that music is the line for me."

Here's the photo of Kareema Begum shared by AR Rahman on his Twitter page:

 December 28, 2020

As per reports, Rahman's mother passed away due to ill health. More details are awaited.