In a recent interview, KS Chithra waxed lyrical about AR Rahman, who often worked with her starting from their maiden collaboration on 1992's Roja. However, Chithra interacted with Rahman before the 1992 film. Remembering her first interaction with him, Chithra told O2 India, “We never spoke until Roja happened." She went on to add, "I saw him while singing for Ilaiyaraaja sir. He was such a small boy, a child. In fact, I was really shocked to see such a person play music. It was a studio in-charge who informed me that he was Dilip Kumar, the son of RK Sekhar sir."
Discussing how a collaboration with Rahman differs from other music composers, Chithra stated, "While working with other music directors, we hear the final version soon after recording. However, with Rahman it was different. You get maximum liberty, you can experiment with expressions, improvisations, etc… But we can hear the final song only when it is released. I wouldn’t know which version of my song would have made it to the final cut."
