A.R Rahman: hopes for Oscar and talks about 'Slumdog Millionaire'

And what did they have to say about your music?

They had a genuinely warm comments for my music in Slumdog Millionaire. At first I thought they were just being sweet and polite.

You know, LA is a kind of place where people in the entertainment industry say a lot of things they don't mean. So I double-checked. And these big guns in Hollywood really meant it.I think they love the Mumbai that they've seen in the film.

And Danny has made terrific use of my music. The way he has mixed my songs, they're full-on, like a discotheque.

Has Mumbai's image suffered a setback in the US after 26/11?

Everyone is a bit shaken. Security has been tightened even more in the US. That's what I was subjected to in every hotel that I went. Everyone has to be more careful. There's a little bit of negativity about what happened. But the way they look at India, our music and cinema is very positive.

The image of Mumbai is still intact. Slumdog Millionaire has promoted Mumbai tourism to a great extent. I don't think any city in the world has been portrayed as vibrantly as Mumbai. I got the right vibes in La.