A R RAHMAN LIFE HISTORY

A. R. Rahman is the man who has redefined contemporary Indian music, is the pride of the Indian nation and a role model for millions around the world. Rahman, hailed by time magazine as the ‘Mozart of Madras’ is one of the most successful artistes of all time and according to a BBC estimate, has sold more than 100 million albums of his works comprising of music from movies.

Early Days Rahman was born in a musically affluent family and he started playing the piano at a very young age. His father, R K Shekhar was a composer, arranger and conductor for Malayalam movies. Unfortunately, his father died when he was only 9 and the family started renting out musical equipment to make ends meet. Young Rahman then joined noted composer Ilayaraja’s troupe as a keyboardist and computer programmer. After working with several renowned composers like Ilayaraja, Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy, Zakir Hussain and L Shankar, he set out on his own to compose jingles and scores for popular Indian television features. During this period, he also obtained a degree in western classical music from the Trinity College of Music, London and went on to set up his own in-house studio called Panchathan record- inn at Chennai which is arguably Asia’s most sophisticated and hi-tech studio.

The Musical Journey
In 1991, noted film maker Mani Ratnam offered Rahman a movie ‘Roja’ which was a run-away success and brought nationwide fame and acclaim to the composer. The movie also led Rahman to receive the Indian National Award for the Best Music Composer, the first time ever by a debutant. Time magazine rated the soundtrack of ‘Roja’ in their top ten compilations of the all time 100 best movie soundtracks of the world.

Rahman is widely considered as the man who single-handedly revived public interest in Indian film music in the nineties. Rahman followed up ‘Roja’ with ‘Gentleman’, ‘Thiruda Thiruda’, ‘Kaadhalan’, ‘Bombay’ and ‘Minssara Kannavu’ all of which were huge chartbusters and were dubbed in Hindi as well. Some of the other hits in Tamil include ‘Alaipayuthey’, ‘Kandukondein Kandukondein’, ‘Jeans’, ‘Mudalvan’, ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ & ‘Boys’. His foray into Hindi movies started off with a big bang with ‘Rangeela’ followed by ‘Dil Se’, ‘Taal’, ‘1947 Earth’, ‘Pukar’, ‘Lagaan’ , ‘Zubeida’, ‘Meenaxi’, ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’, ‘Yuva’, ‘Tehzeeb’ ‘Swades’, ‘Bose: The Forgotten Hero’, ‘Water’ and ‘Rang De Basanti’ all of which have been critically acclaimed and well received.

In 1997, to commemorate 50 years of Indian Independence, Sony Music signed up Rahman as its first artiste in South Asia. The result was ‘Vande Matram’, an album that instantly made Indian youth relate to it and succeeded in rekindling the spirit of patriotism.

Global Calling
In 2001, Andrew Lloyd Webber, the well known composer of musicals like ‘Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Cats’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ etc., invited Rahman to compose for the musical, ‘Bombay Dreams’. The first time he would produce a musical he did not compose for. Bombay dreams opened to packed houses at London’s West End. The show had an unprecedented run for 2 years and later premiered at New York’s Broadway. Rahman also composed the score for a Chinese film, ‘Warriors of Heaven and Earth’ and a piece for the award winning violinist/musician Vanessa Mae called ‘Raga’s Dance.

His most recent work was for the stage adaptation of J R R Tolkien’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ that premiered in Canada in 2006 and in London in 2007.

The ‘Bombay Theme’ from the movie ‘Bombay’ features was most prominently noticed in the movie ‘Lord of War’ starring Nicholas Cage. The track, ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ from the movie ‘Dil Se’ features in the Spike Lee movie, ‘Inside Man’, starring Oscar winner, Denzel Washington. Recognition Rahman has won 18 Filmfare Awards, 3 MTV Awards, 4 IIFA Awards, 6 Tamil Nadu State Awards, 6 Zee Awards, 4 Screen Awards and lots more. He has also been conferred the prestigious ‘Padmashree’ ,the highest civilian honour in India by the Government of India in the year 2000 for outstanding contribution to the Indian film industry.

Philanthropy
Rahman is also involved with charitable causes. In 2004, he was appointed as the global ambassador of the Stop TB Partnership, a project by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As a producer on the single ‘We can make it Better’ by Don Asian alongside Mukhtar Sahota, he showed his charitable side with all the proceeds going to the tsunami victims, as did his 2004 tsunami relief concert in India.

More recently, Rahman launched the A R Rahman Foundation, which is a step towards eradication of hunger and poverty. The aim of the foundation is to tackle the issue of poverty by providing education to the poor and equipping them with knowledge and skills to earn a living.

An immediate outcome of this initiative was Rahman’s first single in the English language called ‘Pray for me brother’, which released in early 2007 wherein all proceeds from sales are towards the A R Rahman Foundation.