A. R. Rahman

Popularly known as A R Rahman, Allah Rakkhha Rahman (born January 6, 1976 at Chennai, India) is the son of R.K Shekhar, a composer, a well known music director and conductor for films in Malayalam language. Rahmann was named A.S Dileep Kumar. At the age of nine, he lost his father. Renting out musical equipment was then the major source of income for his family. In the late 1970s, his family converted from Hinduism to Islam, when he took the present name.

The great musician

A.R Rahman went on to become one of India’s famous composer, musician and record producer. A great film music composer, he is credited with having revolutionized film music composition in India. This made Indian music even more popular worldwide. By 2003, Rahman sold over a hundred million records of his soundtracks and film scores and over 200 million cassettes world-wide. He became one of the world's top 30 all-time top selling recording artists.

Education and Musical Career of A. R. Rahman

Rahman trained under Master Dhanraj in music. He joined the troupe of Ilaiyaraaja at the age of 11 as a keyboardist. Ilayaraaja was one of many composers to whom his family had rented out musical instruments of his father. He was part of the orchestra of M. S. Viswanathan and Ramesh Naidu. He accompanied other accomplished artists such as Zakir Hussain, L. Shankar and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan on world tours. He graduated from Trinity College of Music in London in Western classical music.

Career path

Rahman performed as a keyboard artist as well as an arranger in bands such as ‘Nemesis Avenue’ and ‘Roots’ with friends such as Sivamani, experimenting with various music genres. He played the keyboard, piano, the harmonium, the synthesizer and the guitar besides others. He was particularly involved with the synthesizer for its ‘ideal combination of music and technology’.
He established Panchathan Record Inn, a recording and mixing studio, in the backyard of his house in 1991. He composed music jingles for numerous advertisements in Indian television channels. He scored music for documentaries. Yodha, a Malayalam film, was the first film where he got to score music. The famous film director Mani Ratnam soon took him on for his Tamil film ‘Roja’. He won the Rajat Kamal Award at the National Film Awards for the Best Music Director, a first time for a first time film-composer. With the overwhelming success of ‘Roja’ (listed in TIME's ‘Top 10 Movie Soundtracks of All Time’ in 2005), he went on to score music for numerous films such as Kadhalan, Bombay, Minsaara Kanavu, Indira, Muthu and Love Birds. He bagged three more awards, the most ever for a composer, in 1997 for Minsaara Kanavu (Tamil) in 1997, Lagaan (Hindi) in 2002, Kannathil Muthamittal (Tamil) in 2003. ‘Rangeela’ (directed by Ram Gopal Varma) established himself in Hindu films. His scores in films such as Taal and Dil Se earned him rave reviews. He worked in 10 films (till 2006) with director Mani Ratnam which were all suprehits. His other notable hits were in the films with the director S. Shankar, namely Gentleman, Indian, Kadhalan, Mudhalvan, Jeans, Boys, Nayak and Sivaji. Later he worked for such films as Saathiya, Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, Rang De Basanti, Varalaru - The History of the Godfather, Guru, Azhagiya Tamil Magan, Sivaji: The Boss, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na Sakkarakatti, Jodhaa Akbar and ADA: A Way of Life .

Music Exposure

He established himself with ease in classical, jazz, folk, soft rock reggae, and other styles. A.M. Studios was opened in 2005 attached to the Inn as the most advanced high tech recording studio in Asia. KM Musiq, his own music label, was launched in 2005. The next year he released worldwide his soundtrack to the film ‘Sillunu Oru Kaadhal’. He scored for the movie ‘Provoked’, and co-scored ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’. In 1997 he brought out ‘Vande Mataram’ in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of India’s independence. This was a tremendous success. ‘Jana gana mana’ followed with a collection of Indian classical music from renowned artists and exponents. He also composed several orchestrations for documentaries, short films, TV and internet media publications and athletic events. He performed with Michael Jackson in 1999 along with choreographers Shobhana and Prabhu Deva Sundaram, and a Tamil film industry dancing troupe in ‘Michael Jackson and Friends Concert’ at Munich, Germany. ‘Bombay Dreams’ was his first stage production that he composed after Andrew Lloyd Webber, a well-known theatre composer, commissioned him. He scored music for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ theatre production along with Värttinä, a Finnish folk music band. In 2004, he did the piece ‘Raga's Dance’ for Vanessa-Mae's album Choreography.

He held concerts in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, UK, Dubai, the US (Hollywood Bowl and 3d tour), Canada and India. In mid-2006, a two-disc soundtrack, ‘Introducing A. R. Rahman’, featuring 25 of his composition from his Tamil film scores was released in May 2006.

Awards / Achievement

A.R Rahman won the coveted Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2000. He won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1993 (Roja), 1997 (Minsaara Kanavu), 2002 (Lagaan), and 2003 (Kannathil Muthamittal). He won the Filmfare Best Music Direction in Filmfare Awards South (India) for Roja (1993), Gentleman (1994), Kadhalan (1995), Bombay (1996), Kadhal Desam (1997), Minsaara Kanavu (1998), Jeans (1999), Mudhalvan (2000), Alaipayuthey (2001), Sillunu Oru Kadhal (2006) and Sivaji (2007). He received the Filmfare Awards (India) instituted Best Music Director Award for Rangeela (1995), Dil Se (1998), Taal (1999), Lagaan (2001), Saathiya (2002), Rang de Basanti (2006), and Guru (2007); the Filmfare Best Background Score for The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002), Swadesh (2004) and Guru (2007), and the Filmfare R D Burman Music Debutant Award for the dubbed Hindi version of Roja. He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for bet music in 1993 (Roja), 1994 (Gentleman), 1995 (Kadhalan), 1996 (Bombay), 1997 (Minsaara Kanavu) and 2000 (Sangamam).Zee Cine Award Best Music Director of Zee Cine Awards (India) for 2000 (Lagaan), 2007 (Rang De Basanti), and 2008 (Guru) and Zee Cine Award Best Background Music for Guru in the same year. He received GIFA Award for best music as well as for best background music for Rang De Basanti in 2006.

The IIFA Award (India) for outstanding contribution by an Indian in International Cinema went to him in 2008. He bagged IIFA Best Music Direction award in 2000 (Taal), 2002 (Lagaan), 2003 (Saathiya), 2007 (Rang De Basanti) and 2008 (Guru). The best background music award was also won for 2008 (Guru). Rahman got the best background music award from Star Screen in 2002 and 2007 while winning best music award in 2007 (Rang De Basanti) and 2008 (Guru).

Vijay TV awarded him for best music in 2006 for his scores in Sillunu Oru Kaadhal , Varalaru - The History of the Godfather and in 2007 for Sivaji. He also won the Swaralaya Kairali Yesudas Award (India) for outstanding performance in music field in the year 2006.

Other awards include Screen-Videocon Awards Kadhal Desam (South – Tamil, 1997), Minsara Kanavu (South – Tamil, 1998), Vande Mataram (Non-film,1998), Taal (Hindi, 2000); The Hilton Award for ‘Best New Musical of 2002’ for Bombay Dreams Musical; Sangeet Awards in 2005 for Best Music Director (Film music - Swades); The Mahavir-Mahatma Award (Instituted by the Oneness Forum); National Lata Mangeshkar awards for 2004-05 (Madhya Pradesh government ); Sangeet Awards in 2004 for Best Music Director (Film music - Yuva), Best music arranger (Critics award) for 'Yeh Rishta' - Meenakshi 2004; R D Burman Award at the SuMu Music Awards (1993); Madras Telugu Academy Puraskar (1992 to 1994); Bommai Nagi Reddy Award (1995/96); Lux-Kumudam Award (Kadhalan, 1995); Mauritius National Award (1995, for contribution to music); Malaysian Award (1996, for contribution to music); Sanskriti Award from Delhi based Sanskriti foundation (1994); Kalaimamani Award from Tamil Nadu Government (1995); Thangapillai Award Rajiv Gandhi Award; 3rd Channel [V] Awards - Coca Cola Viewer's Choice Award 1998; The Channel [V]-IMI Award for Best Producer (Vandemataram, 1998); Fanta Award (1999); Stardust Cine Honours (Taal, 2000); Filmgoer’s Award (Taal, 2000); First Bollywood Music Awards (Best Music Director and Best Song, (Taal, 2000); V Shantaram Award (Taal, 2001); Best Music(Guru, 2006-2007); Bollywood US Awards (2003, Best Music Director: Saathiya); 8th Annual Planet-Bollywood Awards (People's Choice Awards! - Best of 2002, Best Music Direction: Saathiya, The Legend of Bhagat Singh Star Screen Award - Best Background Score - Rang De Basanti); Dinakaran Cine Awards (1998 - Minsara Kanavu, 1999 – Jeans, Mudalvan, 2000 - Kadhalar Dhinam); MTV-VMA Award (Dil Se Re song from Dil Se, 1999); MTV Asia Awards (2003 for Favourite Artist); and India MTV IMMIES (2003 - Best Music Composer - 'Saathiya').

A. R. Rahman was nominated for 2003 - Laurence Olivier Theatre Award (UK) for Best New Musical - Bombay Dreams,General Theatre Division - Outstanding Musical Direction - The Lord of the Rings musical, and MTV youth icon award in 2006.