A.R.RAHMAN

Allah-Rakha Rahman (born A. S. Dileep Kumar on 6 January 1967) is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, musician and philanthropist. Rahman’s works are noted for integrating Eastern classical music with electronic music, world music and traditional orchestral arrangements. Among his awards are two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, four National Film Awards, fifteen Filmfare Awards and thirteen Filmfare Awards South. Rahman’s body of work for film and stage has given him the nickname of “the Mozart of Madras”, and Tamil commentators and fans call him Isai Puyal (English: The Musical Storm). He accompanied the great tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on a few world tours and also won a scholarship at the Trinity College of Music at Oxford University, where he studied Western classical music and obtained a degree in music. Due to some personal crisis, Dileep Kumar embraced Islam and came to be known as A.R. Rahman. In 1987, he moved to advertising, where he composed more than 300 jingles over 5 years. In 1989, he started a small studio called Panchathan Record Inn, which later developed into one of the most wellequipped and advanced sound recording studios in India. At an advertising awards function, Rahman met one of India’s most famous directors Mani Ratnam. Rahman played him a few of his music samples. Mani loved them so much that he asked Rahman to compose the music for his next film, Roja (1992). The rest, as they say, is history. He went on to compose several great hits for Tamil-language films before composing the score and songs for his first Hindi-language film, Rangeela (1995). The enormous success of his first Hindi venture was followed by the charttopping soundtrack albums of films such as Bombay (1995), Dil Se. (1998), Taal (1999), Zubeidaa (2001), and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), which was nominated for best foreign-language film at the 2002 Academy Awards. More recently, he worked with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Shekhar Kapur (director of Elizabeth (1998)) on a musical called “Bombay Dreams.” A 36 years old A.R. Rahman has revolutionized Indian film music and one can only expect this musical genius to reach greater heights. On August 15, 1997, he released an album called “Vande Mataram,” on Columbia/SME Records, to commemorate 50 years of Indian independence. A tribute to the motherland, it featured songs for each of the Indian flag colors. The album was released simultaneously across the world in 28 countries, and Rahman himself performed in New Delhi to a packed audience including the honorable Indian Prime Minister. Over 1.2 million copies were sold in India alone. He is also known as the John Williams of the Indian Film Industry.Collaborated with The Lord of The Rings’ Stage Musical original score with Finnish folk music group Varttina and Christopher Nightingale. A.R. Rahman got the 2500th Filmfare Trophy at the 57th Filmfare Awards, 2011. It was a diamond studded trophy designed by PC Jewellers. His father, R K Shekhar, who was a composer, arranger and conductor for Malayalam films died when Rahman was just 9 years-old and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. Later there was a turning point when Dileep Kumar decided to rechristen himself as A R Rahman. This incident happened when Rahman’s sister was very ill once. A Muslim friend suggested if he prayed in a particular mosque, his sister would recover and so did happen. This caused the entire family to convert to Islam. Rahman is one of over 70 artists who performed on “We Are the World 25 for Haiti”, a charity single to raise emergency relief funds in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In 2010, Rahman composed “Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat” in honor of the 50th anniversary of the formation of Gujarat State, “Semmozhiyaana Thamizh Mozhiyaam” as part of World Classical Tamil Conference 2010, and the official theme song of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, “Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto”. Rahman organized his first world tour, named A. R. Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour, in 2010. The tour was kicked off on 11 June at the Nassau Coliseum in New York and span 16 major cities worldwide. –Dontoju Lahari, B.E. – 2/4

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