AR Rahman: Iconic music composer who made India proud

AR Rahman's genius as a film music composer, record producer and singer has blazed a trail of excellence in India & abroad. He won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and four National Film Awards, apart from nominations for two Grammys. His achievements earned him the nickname Mozart of Madras.

Born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to a musically gifted Tamil family on January 6, 1967, his father RK Shekhar was a Chennai-based composer and conductor for Malayalam films. Rahman lost his father at a young age and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. He was raised by his mother Kareema Beegum (Kashturi).

He began training in music under Master Dhanraj. At age 11, he joined, as a keyboard artist, the troupe of Ilaiyaraaja, one of many composers who rented his father’s musical instruments. Rahman served as a keyboard player and an arranger in bands such as Roots, with childhood friend and percussionist Sivamani, John Anthony, Suresh Peters, JoJo and Raja. Rahman is the founder of the Chennai-based rock group Nemesis Avenue. He played the keyboard and piano, the synthesizer, the harmonium and the guitar.

Rahman played in the orchestra of MS Viswanathan Ramesh Naidu and Raj Koti, accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship to the Trinity College of Music where he graduated with a degree in Western classical music.

Musical career
In 1992, Rahman began his own music recording and mixing studio attached to the backyard of his house called the Panchathan Record Inn, which developed into India’s most advanced recording studio.
He initially composed jingles for advertisements, television channels and music scores in documentaries, among other projects. In 1992, he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for the latter’s Tamil film Roja.
The Roja score received much acclaim in its original and dubbed versions, bringing about a great change in film music industry, and Rahman followed it with successful scores for Tamil films.

Key milestone
In 2006, Rahman launched his own music label, KM Music. Its first release was his score to the film Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. In 2008, he scored the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, for which he won a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards, making him the first Indian to do so. In the United States, the soundtrack topped the Dance/Electronic Albums chart and reached #4 on the Billboard 200 chart. The song titled Jai Ho reached #2 on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles and #15 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2009, Rahman won an Oscar for his work on Slumdog Millionaire. After receiving the award, he paid tribute to his mother.

Personal life
He is married to Saira Banu and has three children, Khadijah, Rahima, and Aameen. Rahman is the uncle of composer G V Prakash Kumar, who is the son of Rahman’s elder sister, AR Reihana. He had become an atheist as a result of childhood struggles before eventually converting to Islam in 1989.

Social service
Rahman is involved in numerous charitable causes. In 2004, he was appointed as the Global Ambassador of the WHO’s Stop TB Partnership. In 2008, he opened the KM Music Conservatory in partnership with Audio Media Education to train aspiring musicians in vocals, instruments, music technology and sound design.

Interesting facts
AR Rahman composed music for Mani Ratnam’s Bombay, Kadhalan, Bharathiraaja’s Karuththamma, the saxophonic duet, Indira, & the romantic comedies Mr. Romeo and Love Birds.

His successful film scores include Dil Se and Taal. For the composition Zikr in the film Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero, he created large orchestral and choral arrangements.

He supported the charity Save the Children, India, and worked on a song Indian Ocean, the proceeds of which went to help orphans in Banda Aceh, an area affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Rahman composed the theme music for a short film, The Banyan, in 2006 in aid of destitute women in Chennai. In 2008, Rahman created a song Jiya se Jiya, inspired by the Free Hugs Campaign and promoted it.

Time Magazine called him the Mozart of Madras. Many Tamil commentators had coined him the nickname Isai Puyal meaning a musical storm. He was named in the 2009 Time 100 list of World’s Most Influential People.