Rahman has a strange kind of spirituality within which he lives. I worked with him for 58 nights for Taal and he would compose music from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. He knows technique, has a rare sense of sound and a great ear. He can make any besura (tuneless) voice sing well. This is obvious from singers who have sung beautifully for his albums but have not done well later.

He has a sharp intellect and understands not just the sound of music and quality of voice but also the market forces and how to move from post to post. That is the need of the hour. I have had the opportunity of working with Pyarelal, one of the greatest composers of India, but he had no understanding of the market.

After Roja I was the first Hindi film director to approach him with a project in 1994. It was for ShikharÑwith Jackie Shroff and Shah Rukh KhanÑwhich unfortunately did not materialise. When I met him for the first time I found him so divine and so simple. "Let us work first, then we'll talk about money," he told me then. It is strange now that he is the highest-paid music director in the history of the Indian music industry!

He has brought a new sound to the advertising and film industry, and he will do the same for theatre now. His project, Bombay Dreams, with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, is definitely going to promote him as a new musical response from India. Very soon he will be known as an international composer as good as Yanni or better than him. I'm confident he can do it.

I love him both as a composer and as a friend. He is very sweet to talk to. The only thing is you talk and he listens! (Laughs.)

(As told to Maria Abraham)