AR Rahman scored his first for Mahesh in the movie 'Nani'.  Mahesh Babu and Ameesha Patel played the lead cast. The movie was directed by SJ Surya.

Being SJ Suryah's favorite songster, Rahman is once again composing music for Pawan Kalyan's 'Puli' directed by Suryah. Once it is done, the music director is going to carry on orchestrating for Tollywood with Mahesh Babu's next to be directed by Gautham Menon.

The team usually comprised of Harris Jayaraj and Gautham Menon since a long time, but due to an estranged relationship between them, the duo has split-up. After parting ways with 'Surya s/o Krishna' being their last, Harris moved out and Rahman stepped into the project.