Street in Canada named after music maestro AR Rahman 

Aaja-aaja jind shamiyane ke tale 

Aaja jariwale nile aasman ke tale 

Jai Ho, jai ho! 

You don’t need to be an Indian or even a serious music connoisseur to be acquainted with this popular song. After all, it is an Oscar-winning song composed by none other than the legendary music director, singer and songwriter AR Rahman, featured in the globally-acknowledged movie Slumdog Millionaire. In fact, apart from the Academy Award, this Indian music maestro had also won the prestigious Grammy Award for the same song, back in 2010.  

Recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, Rahman recently has earned yet another feather to his cap: A street in named after him in a Canadian city called Markham. This street dedication ceremony was recently hosted at the Markham Civic Centre and comes amidst Rahman’s music tour in Canada. This honour follows right after Rahman’s announcement earlier last month regarding his upcoming metaverse project ‘Katraar.’ 

AR Rahman shared the news of the street-naming with his fans across the globe on Twitter and thanked the Mayor of Markham Frank Scrapitti for the prestigious honour. He further extended his gratitude to Canadian counsellors, Indian Consulate General Apoorva Srivastava and also the people of Canada. He even shared an image of himself holding a board which read ‘Allah Rakha Rahman Street’ as part of the inauguration ceremony he attended. Furthermore, Rahman thanked all his brothers and sisters in India for the love he has received from them over the years for his music and also lauded the creative people who were involved in the process.  

For those unaware, AR Rahman was born as AS Dileep Kumar into a Hindu family. However, later on, he voluntarily converted to Islam and changed his name to Allah Rakha Rahman, the name that brought him immense fame. Sources cite that Rahman was never really happy with his original name and somehow always regarded it as a misfit for his image. In fact, when he lost his father RK Shekhar (also a music composer), he and his family embraced Sufism while grieving, and ended up finding solace in it. This is when the music legend decided to adopt a new identity and thus changed his name (1989). Rahman’s mother wanted this name change ahead of his debut as a music composer in the 1992 film Roja that instantly made him a well-reckoned musician.  

Interestingly, Rahman didn’t come up with his name himself. A family friend and astrologer suggested several options, out of which he chose Rahman as it instantly resonated with him. As for Allah Rakha, it was his mother’s intuition that made him add it. It turns out, Allah Rakha means “Protected by God.”  

In his latest tweet sharing the street-naming honour Rahman wrote, “So, let that name bring peace, prosperity, happiness and health to all people living in Canada.”