He speaks about his first salary on a award function at kerala(swaralaya kairali award)rahman is the first music composer who got this award as usually award given to singers!he said that his first job was in Malayalam movie industry.he started working in Malayalam movie industry at the age of 12.Rahman got trained under Malayalam music director Arjunan Master for 5 years, before he did the music for Roja.he admit that his most favorite singer is K J Yesudas