Legendary music composer AR Rahman is making his debut as a producer and co-writer with the movie "99 Songs," starring Ehan Bhat and Edilsy Vargas. While his fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the film, ARR has revealed that Mani Ratnam, who is one of the directors he has been associated with numerous times, inspired him to venture into filmmaking.

Recalling how Mani Ratnam once told him that a film's story and making a song have a similar process, AR Rahman reportedly said, Mani Ratnam once said to me that when you know how to make a movie, it's like how you make a song. You've the introduction, the theme of the song, the tune and then you do the background music. Then comes the antara and you've a journey that eventually comes to an end beautifully. He said that the process is like a story and it just struck me how nice it is to speak in your own language about another art such as story writing. That inspired me."

He added, "I love stories, I love to study people and their lives; not just people from our Indian culture but from many other cultures as well." Presented by Jio Studios and produced by Rahman under his banner YM Movies, 99 Songs is set to hit the screens on April 16.