Music maestro AR Rahman's mother Kareema Begum passes away in Chennai

Oscar and Grammy-winning music composer AR Rahman's mother Kareema Begum passed away today in Chennai. AR Rahman took to social media and confirmed the reports by sharing a picture of his mother. Reportedly, she passed away due to age-related ailments. The legendary music composer was very close to his mom. She was married to Rajagopala Kulashekharan, an Indian music composer, especially for Malayalam films. Meanwhile, AR Rahman's fans have been offering condolences in the comment section of his Twitter post. 

After his father passed away, Rahman was raised by his mother, Kareema (born Kashturi). He was studying in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and had to work to support his family. However, after discussing with his mother to step into the music industry, he later dropped out of school to pursue a career as a full-time musician. Kareema Begum has played a huge role to become what he is today. 

Khushbu Sundar also offered condolences to Rahman and family as she tweeted, "Losing a mother is irreplaceable. The vacuum remains forever. My deepest condolences to @arrahman and his family. May Allah give you the strength to hear the pain." 

Earlier, in an interview with Chennai Times, A R Rahman shared, "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."

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