A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (
Tamil:
ஏ.ஆர்.ரஹ்மான்; born on
January 6,
1966 as
A.S. Dileep Kumar in
Chennai,
Tamil Nadu,
India) is a hugely popular Indian
music composer. He is a native
Tamilian. He made his debut in 1992 with
Mani Ratnam's
Tamil movie,
Roja (Rose), which was subsequently dubbed into many languages.
Yodha marked his debut in
Malayalam, also in 1992 and
Ram Gopal Verma's
Rangeela (Colorful) (1995) was the first
Hindi movie to have Rahman as the music director. He is a recipient of the
Padma Shri, which is one of India's highest civilian national honours.
Rahman is the only son of R. K. Sekhar, who was a composer, arranger and conductor for
Malayalam films. His father died when Rahman was nine years old, and his family used to rent out musical equipment to make ends meet, something they found very difficult. During those hard times, a
Sufi (Muslim) saint helped them spiritually. This led Dileep to convert to
Islam, changing his name to Allah Rakha Rahman.
At the age of 11, Rahman joined the troupe of Indian composer
Ilaiyaraja as a
keyboardist. He later played on the orchestra of
M.S. Vishwanathan and Ramesh Naidu, and accompanied
Zakir Hussain and
Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan on world tours. The experience allowed him to obtain a scholarship to
Trinity College at
Oxford University, where he received a degree in
Western classical music.
In 1991, Rahman began his own studio (attached to his house), called the
Panchathan Record Inn. He initially composed music for use in advertisements, the title music on popular
Indian Television channels and music in documentaries, among other projects. Rahman was, at first, hesitant about composing music for the Indian film industry primarily because most film makers at the time used songs as "fillers" - a means by which the audience was given a break from the movie's plot. In 1991 he was approached by film director
Mani Ratnam, who offered Rahman the job as composer of music for his upcoming film
Roja, at a price of
Rs. 25,000. Rahman accepted, and the movie's superhit debut made him a household name in
Tamil Nadu virtually overnight and led Rahman to receive the
Rajat Kamal award for best music director at the
Indian National Film Awards, the first time ever by a debutant. Rahman has since then gone on to win the award 3 more times (for
Minsaara Kanavu (
Electric Dreams,
Tamil) in 1997,
Lagaan (
Tax,
Hindi) in 2002 and
Kannathil Muthamittal (
A Peck on the Cheek,
Tamil) in 2003), the most ever by any composer.
When Rahman arrived on the Indian music scene with his first film
Roja, the music industry in India was going through a crisis with the retirement of older music composers and the lack of innovation in Indian film music.
Roja was a massive hit, and Rahman followed it up with a number of other extremely popular films, including
Bombay,
Rangeela,
Dil Se and
Taal . The huge sales of these albums prompted movie producers to take film music more seriously.
Rahman's work is also unique in the fact that his collaborations with a few movie directors have always resulted in hugely successful albums. In particular, he has worked with
Mani Ratnam on eight movies (until 2004) (see
list of movies by Mani Ratnam featuring A R Rahman), all of which have been musical superhits. Also notable is his collaboration with the director
S. Shankar (
Gentleman,
Kadhalan,
Indian,
Jeans,
Mudhalvan,
Nayak,
Boys and
Sivaji).
He made an album
Vande Mataram (1996) on India's national song. His soulful rendering of the title song in the album again skyrocketed both the composition and the composer to top of the charts. The song also established Rahman as a polished singer.
He followed it up with an album called
Jana gana mana, a huge conglomeration of performances by all the leading exponents/artists of
Indian classical music.
His latest work includes Mani Ratnams's
Yuva,
Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities,
Bose - The Forgotten Hero,
Swades,
Mangal Pandey - The Rising and
Rang De Basanti.
He is currently working on Mani Ratnam's next venture
Guru, and on one of Shyam Benegal's most expensive ventures,
Chamki Chameli, which is set for release in 2007.
He also composes jingles and signature tunes for a number of brands, the most popular of them being his tune for
Airtel. Recently Rahman composed the tune for
WorldSpace, with whom he is attached as a Brand Ambassador.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, a well known composer of
musicals, was impressed with Rahman's unique style and therefore hired him to compose his maiden stage production
Bombay Dreams (2002). This play was well received in England and opened him up to new vistas in
Hollywood. Furthermore, Rahman, along with the Finnish folk music band
Värttinä, composed the music for
The Lord of the Rings musical, which opened in
Toronto on
March 23 2006.
Rahman received more international attention with this
article in the
TIME magazine. Rahman's first movie album
Roja was listed in
TIME magazine's
TOP 10 Movie Soundtracks of all time;
source.According to
BBC Rahman is reported to have sold 100 million records world-wide.
In 2000, Rahman's annual income was estimated to be around $4 million (Rs.180 million) from worldwide endorsements and royalties dating back to
Roja (1992). According to
Rediff.com, rights for his Tamil album
Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) were sold for an astonishing record sum of Rs.22 million. This record, for Tamil cinema, still remains unbeaten six years hence.
In addition to influencing western audiences, Rahman also impressed eastern audiences with his music so much that he was tapped by Chinese director He Ping to provide music for the Chinese film
Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003
IMDB. The music of this film was very much appreciated in Asia and in India.
On May 23rd 2006, a two-disc album soundtrack, titled
Introducing A.R. Rahman, was released by Times Square Records, featuring 25 songs he composed from Tamil film soundtracks spanning 1993-2001. The compillation soundtrack was very well received upon release.
On July 16th, 2006, Rahman performed to a sell-out crowd at the 26000+ capacity natural amphitheatre,
Hollywood Bowl along with noted Indian artists such as Sukhwinder Singh, Hariharan, and Sadhana Sargam, as well as American performing groups
Raagapella and Global Rhythms. This was the first time that a world music performance at the Hollywood Bowl was sold-out completely.
A.R. Rahman has won the following awards:
*
National Film Awards (India) **
1993 -
National Film Award for Best Music Direction -
Roja**
1997 -
National Film Award for Best Music Direction -
Minsaara Kanavu**
2002 -
National Film Award for Best Music Direction -
Lagaan**
2003 -
National Film Award for Best Music Direction -
Kannathil Muthamittal*
Filmfare Awards (India) **
1995 -
Filmfare Best Music Director Award -
Rangeela**
1998 -
Filmfare Best Music Director Award -
Dil Se**
1999 -
Filmfare Best Music Director Award -
Taal**
2001 -
Filmfare Best Music Director Award -
Lagaan **
2002 -
Filmfare Best Music Director Award -
Saathiya**
2002 -
Filmfare Best Background Score -
The Legend of Bhagat Singh**
2004 -
Filmfare Best Background Score -
Swades*
Zee Cine Awards (India) **
2000 -
Zee Cine Award Best Music Director -
Taal**
2002 -
Zee Cine Award Best Music Director -
Lagaan* 9 South Indian Filmfare Awards
* 6 Times
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
A.R. Rahman has been nominated for the following awards:
*
Laurence Olivier Awards (UK) **
2003 -
Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best New Musical -
Bombay Dreams*
Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Canada) **
2006 - General Theatre Division - Outstanding Musical Direction -
The Lord of the Rings musicalFilms
Note: "Year" indicates the year the earliest version of any multi-language movie was released. Movies with the year next to the title dictates that the film was either dubbed or released later than the original version of the movie.
*The films
Nayak: The Real Hero (
2001,
Hindi) and
Saathiya (
2002, Hindi) were remakes of the films
Mudhalvan (
1999,
Tamil) and
Alai Payuthey (
2000, Tamil), respectively. The soundtracks were reused with changes and additional songs.
*A. R. Rahman has also composed the score for the film
Warriors of Heaven and Earth/Tian di ying xiong (
2003,
Mandarin)
*He has contributed one song to
Fiza (
1999, Hindi).
*The soundtracks of the films
Roja (
1992) and
Gentleman (
1993), were also released as instrumental versions.
The following films had soundtracks reused from previous albums:
*
Vishwa Vidhaata (
1997, Hindi) from
Pudhiya Mugam (
1993, Tamil)
*
Love You Hamesha (
2001, Hindi) from
May Madham (
1994, Tamil)
*
Lakeer (
2004, Hindi) from
Rhythm (
2000, Tamil - 3 songs), with 3 new songs added
*
Jodi (
1999, Tamil) from
Doli Saja Ke Rakhna (
1999, Hindi), with 3 new songs added
*
Star (
2001, Tamil) from
Thakshak (
1999, Hindi - 3 songs) and
1947/Earth (
1998, Hindi - 1 song), with 1 new song added
*
Thakshak (
1999, Hindi) from
En Swaasa Kaatre (
1999, Tamil) 1 song (Jumbalaka), with changes in vocals and instrumentation
*
Pukar (
1999, Hindi) from
En Swaasa Kaatre (
1999, Tamil) 1 song ('Kay Sera Sera' from 'Nayagara'), with changes in vocals and instrumentation
*Song "Dekho Na" from movie
Swades (
2004, Hindi) reused from the song "Baba Kichchu Tha" from movie
Baba (
2002, Tamil) with different vocals and instrumentationThe soundtrack of
Nicolas Cage's
Lord Of War (
2005), features the instrumental piece "Bombay Theme" from the
Tamil film
Bombay, directed by Mani Ratnam.
The soundtrack of
Spike Lee's
Inside Man (
2006), features the song
Chaiyya Chaiyya from the
Hindi film
Dil Se, directed by Mani Ratnam.
* Return of the Thief of Baghdad (Yet to be released) (
2003)
* Deen Isai Maalai (1989) as AS Dilip Kumar
* Set Me Free (1991)
* Vande Mataram (
1997)
* Jana Gana Mana (
2000)
*
Bombay Dreams (
2002) (Musical)
* Ignited Minds (
2003) (Unreleased but performed in live concert)
* Raga's Dance (
2004) (for
Vanessa Mae's album called
Choreography)
* Pray for me, Brother (
2005) (UN Theme song for poverty alleviation mission) (Unreleased but performed in live concerts)
* Banyan Theme (
2006) (Theme song for stage musical
Netru, Indru, Naalai in aid of
The Banyan, unreleased)
*
The Lord of the Rings musical (
2006) (Stage Production/Musical)
* Jana Gana Mana (
2006) [
1]
* WorldSpace Signature Tune (
2006) [
2]
Rahman (born Dileep Kumar) is the second among four children of R.K. Shekhar and Khatija Begum (Kasthuri). He has three sisters, Rehana (Kanchana), Talat (Bala) and Israth. He has three children - Kathija, Raima and Rhumi.
*
Best selling music artists — World's top-selling music artists chart.
*
Music by A. R. Rahman*
A.R. Rahman: Official Site*
A.R. Rahman: A Complete Biography*
A.R. Rahman: A Complete Discography*
The Official A.R. Rahman Fans Group*
Rahman Times : An One Stop website for ARR Fans*
Rahmania — The Ultimate Fan Station*
A.R. Rahman's music @ Raaga.com*
Time Magazine (Richard Corliss) on A R Rahman*
SL2UK: A.R. Rahman*
Nilacharal: A.R. Rahman Profile*
MSN Entertainment: A.R. Rahman Artist Information*
The Legend, The Music by Raaja*
All the latest news about A.R. Rahman*
A.R. Rahman Songs @ Music Plugin *
Flickr scan of Filmfare article on Rahman's latest movie
