New Delhi : AR Rahman is considered one of the biggest music composers in the country today. But there was a time when his name was not as popular as it is today. Famous singer Alka Yagnik revealed this in a recent interview.

Alka Yagnik told that there was a time when she and Kumar Sanu were hesitant to work with AR Rahman. However, later, both of them regretted this.

Refused to work with Rehman

In an interview to Radio Nasha, Alka Yagnik said that in the early days, people did not know Rahman much in the industry, although he was quite famous in the South. She recalled, 'I still remember that I got a call from Rahman from Chennai who told me that he is a big fan of mine and wants to make a complete soundtrack with me and Kumar Sanu. Rahman was composing songs for this film.'

Dates were not available.

Alka Yagnik further said that one problem was that Rahman was calling her immediately whereas the singers' dates were already booked elsewhere. I had worked with so many composers in Mumbai and had built rapport with them that I did not want to leave them for someone whom I did not know well.

Alka regretted it later.

After this Alka Yagnik called Kumar Sanu and told him about the offer. His reaction was the same as Alka's. He too had never heard of AR Rahman. Alka said that at that time, both of us rejected this offer, but later, when I heard the songs composed by him, I felt like banging my head against the wall.