“EMPOWERMENT IS WHEN YOU ALLOW PEOPLE TO LIVE PEACEFULLY AS THEY ARE. LIVE AND LET LIVE!”

—KHATIJA RAHMAN

the duster at imaginary backbenchers to writing on a make-shift blackboard, she playfully recalls.

Her musical training made her realise how crucial it is to have a mentor, guru or teacher as there are certain secrets or nuances you can only learn from someone else. “If it’s all the same, why are we going to school also?” she asks, adding that her dad is of course a constant mentor. Though she’s quick to point out that he’s not a vocal teacher, so it’s the technical aspects she’s picked up from him. “Like how to end songs, make it more

pleasing,” she says.

Mum’s the word

It was her mother, Saira Banu, though, who believed Khatija had a good voice – literally from the first time she heard her cry, the 23-yearold laughs as she reminisces. Then when Khatija was 10 months old and uttered her first word, Saira’s conviction grew stronger. “It just never struck my dad. My mom could hear me practising in my room and dad was convinced mom was just blindly supporting, because you know how moms are. Today, he gives mom credit for it,” she smiles.

Even Khatija was scared at the prospect of working with the great AR Rahman. “Also because when you are working with your own family it can be tricky,” she says, adding that the animation process of the song’s video caused many animated debates between the two. “He was bad cop and I, the good cop! But he’s really patient now,” she says, recalling that one time years ago when she was recording a voiceover with him, and he was too strict so she ended up complaining to Saira. “His response was ‘but we got what we wanted’,” she laughs.

The two also bond over food, and small arguments are inevitable given the age and generation gap. “He is my dad, after all,” she says, adding that it’s still a learning process of understanding each other. He doesn’t express much but what works for both of them is that Khatija has never been the ‘blasts loud music from her room’ kind of kid.

The only sort of disagreement you could say the duo had was when Khatija took the break from music, deciding to never get back to it. “I got overwhelmed with all the attention I got for the first song when I was 13 or 14 years old. I took on the pressure of being AR Rahman’s daughter on myself. I did that to myself,” she explains.

So, what brought her back? The answer, again, is her mother. Khatija needed a favour from Saira and to butter her up a bit, Khatija sent her two voice notes singing two old songs Saira liked. “I thought she would melt and agree,” she smiles. But her mother showed it to AR, who felt that though Khatija hadn’t trained for seven years, her voice still had that spark. “Dad was too afraid to ask as I’d told him to his face that I wasn’t going to sing anymore, and he was hurt by it,” she guiltily confesses. Saira convinced Khatija that they would record the song and not release it. Two years hence, here we are listening to it.

Mind your business

Ask about being trolled for wearing the hijab, and pat comes the practical response, “I don’t need two three hours to get ready,” she exclaims before adding, “We’re living in the 21st century and I have to keep explaining what I’m wearing! That says more about trolls than me. I feel empowered when I wear the hijab because I am not worried about fitting