A R Rahman, The renowned Music Composer known as “Mozart of Madras” celebrate his 57th Birthday. His magical music goes beyond the boundaries and cultures and make every hearts beat. Not only in India, but also worldwide his music are admire.
On his 57th birthday let’s take a look back in his past life and works.
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Table of Contents
A R Rahman’s birth and family background:
Singer, songwriter, song composer, musician, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, philanthropist A.R.Rahman aka Allah Rakha Rahman was born on 6th January, 1966 in Madras (now in Tamil Nadu) however his name at that time was A. S. Dileep Kumar. Belongs to a Mudaliar family, his father R. K. Shekhar was a conductor and score composer in Malayalam and Tamil Industry.
He started learning piano when he was a kid. He was very young when his father died. To earn money for living, he dropped out his school and start his musical career by opening a band with his childhood friends John Anthony, percussionist Sivamani, JoJo, Suresh Peters and Raja where he played the keyboard, later he became the founder of this channai based band named Nemesis Avenue. Afterward including piano and keyboard, he learnt playing harmonium, synthesizer and guiter.
He started his musical training under Master Dhanraj, at the age of 11 and playing in Malayalam compsed orchestra with the help of his friend’s father M. K. Arjunan. Sooner he started working with Ramesh Naidu, Raj–Koti, M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, Vijay Anand, Vijaya Bhaskar, Hamsalekha. Later he accompanied by L. Shankar, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and Zakir Hussain and passed from Trinity College of Music.
A. S. Dileep Kumar to A R Rahman (conversion to Islam):
A. R. Rahman who is also known for his spritualism and devoted to God who shaped his musical career. He converted his religion when he was 20 years old with his mother and three sisters. After his father’s death by cancer, he met with a Sufi saint who was doing his father’s treatment at that time.
He conference in a interview that the saint inspire him to make his music in religious ways which can easily touch human souls and gods. He also said that his music is not bounded by any single religion but he creates music for universal, uplifting and spread positiveness. He said studing for graduation in Madras in western classical music with his some friends, he was introduced to Qadiri Islam, in 1984, when his younger sister was seriously ill. Later in 1989, he converted to Islam with his other family members and changed his name to A.R. Rahman or Allah Rakha Rahman which means “the merciful and compassionate one”.
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A.R.Rahman musical career:
In his three decades of long and successful career, he have worked in several languages such as English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Mandarin and Persian. A.R. Rahman, popularly known as “Isai Puyal” have produced and composed songs and original scores for more than 145 films. He started his career in 1987 with composing scores for, documentaries and jingles for Indian television advertisement such as Allwyn, Titan Watches.
In 1992, he worked as a soundtracker and compose the scores in a Tamil film named Roja, directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Madhoo and Aravind Swamy. For which as a debutant, he received Best Music Direction in National Film Award.
After Roja and Thiruda, Thiruda Rahman collaborated with Mani Ratnam for the third time in the film Bombay which gave him popularity in the Hindi film industry.In 1995, in a Tamil romantic film, acted by Manisha Koirala and Arvind Swamy, his emotion song “Tu hi Re” and dance song “Hamma Hamma” was a true masterpiece. Rangeela’s extraordinary traditional music remains timeless.
In 1995 he collaborated with director Ram Gopal Varma, stars Urmila Matondkar and Aamir Khan’s film whose soundtrack was amazing in the song of “Tanha Tanha”,“Hai Rama” and “Kya Kare Kya Na Kare” is a masterpiece.
In 1998, In the film Dil Se, directed by Mani Ratnam, stars Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala’s song “Chaiyya Chaiyya” and “Jiya Jale” is a gem. His work with a starmaker Subhash Ghai in the film Taal, stars Aishwarya Rai, Anil Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna has a remarkable song “Ishq Bina”.
Aamir Khan’s well known movie, directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar “Lagaan” popular songs “Mitwa” and “Chale Chalo” played a significant role in the success of this film. In SRK’s movie “Swades ” his “Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera” melted the hearts of audiences. In 2006 his movie “Rang De Basanti” was an authentic song “Khalbali”. In 2007, film Guru, starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan’s songs “Barso Re” and “Tere Bina” was still in its essence. In Ranvir Kapoor’s Rockstar and Tamasha his song was super hit and touched the heart of audiences.
Awards:
In 2010, He has won three highest civilian award Padma Bhushan except that he has won six National Film Award, two academy awards, two Oscars, two Grammy awards, a BAFTA Award, one Golden Globe Award, fifteen Filmfare awards and seventeen Filmfare awards in South film industry. His music evokes the emotions that resonate with audiences from every background.
In his 57th birthday Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Kamal Hossain, Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Ram Charan and other Bollywood stars wish for him a happy and healthy life.
