Allah Rakha Rahman (Tamil: அல்லா ரக்கா ரஹ்மான்; born 6 January 1966 in Chennai,[3] India as A. S. Dileep Kumar) is an Indian film composer, record producer, musician, singer and philanthropist.
Having set up his own in-house studio called Panchathan Record Inn at Chennai, arguably one of Asia’s most sophisticated and high-tech studios, Rahman's film scoring career began in the early 1990s with the Tamil film Roja. Working in India's various film industries, international cinema and theatre, Rahman has a claimed sale of more than 300 million records of his film scores and soundtracks as of 2009 for over 100 film scores worldwide, making him one of the world's all-time top selling recording artists.[7][8][9] In a notable career spanning two decades, Rahman has garnered particular acclaim for redefining contemporary Indian film music and thus contributing to the success of several films. Rahman is currently one of the highest paid composers of the motion picture industry. He has also become a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising money for beneficial causes and supporting charities.
Early life
A R Rahman receiving a Platinum sales disc at the MagnaSound Awards. The record label Magnasound released his first film soundtrack,
Roja in 1992.
A. R. Rahman was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to a musically affluent
Mudaliar Tamil family.
[10] His father
R. K. Shekhar, was a film music composer and conductor for
films in Malayalam language. Rahman used to assist his father during recordings and play
keyboard for the songs. Rahman lost his father at the age of 9 and his family had to rent out his father's musical equipment as their source of income.
[11] Rahman was raised by his mother Kareema (born Kashturi).
[12] During these formative years, 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.
[3] Rahman is the founder of the Chennai-based rock group, "Nemesis Avenue".
[13] He mastered various music instruments like
Keyboard, Piano, Synthesizer,
Harmonium and Guitar. His curiosity in Synthesizer in particular, increased because, he says, it was the "ideal combination of music and technology".
He began early training in music under Master Dhanraj.
[14][15] From the age of 11, he started playing musical instruments in the orchestra of
Malayalam composer and a close friend of Rahman's father,
M.K.Arjunan.
[16] Soon he started working with other composers such as
M. S. Viswanathan,
Ilaiyaraaja,
Ramesh Naidu,
Raj-Koti[15] and also accompanied
Zakir Hussain,
Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and
L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship with
Trinity College, London, board of the
Trinity College of Music.
[12] Studying in Chennai, he graduated with graded examinations and a diploma in
Western classical music via the college.
[17] He was introduced to
Qadiri Islam when his younger sister fell severely sick in 1984. Subsequently, Rahman along with other members of his family converted to Islam in 1989, when he was 23 years old. He changed his name from A. S. Dileep Kumar to A. R. Rahman or Allah Rakha Rahman.
[12][18]Career
Film scoring and soundtracks
Rahman composed his first song at the age of nine, in 1975. He had accidentally played a tune on piano during his father's recording for a film, which R. K.Shekhar later developed into a complete song, "Vellithen Kinnam Pol", for the Malayalam film
Penpada. This track credited to his father, was sung by
Jayachandran and penned by Bharanikkavu Sivakumar.
[19] His notable film career began in 1992, when he started
Panchathan Record Inn, a music recording and mixing studio attached to the backyard of his house. Over time it would become the most advanced recording studio in India,
[20] and arguably one of Asia’s most sophisticated and high-tech studios.
[21] He initially composed scores for documentaries, jingles for advertisements and
Indian Television channels and other projects. In 1992, he was approached by film director
Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for Ratnam's Tamil film
Roja.
[20][22] The debut led Rahman to receive the
Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) award for Best Music Director at the
National Film Awards, an unprecedented win for a first-time film composer. Rahman has since been awarded the Silver Lotus three more times for
Minsaara Kanavu (
Electric Dreams, Tamil) in 1997,
Lagaan (
Tax, Hindi) in 2002,
Kannathil Muthamittal (
A Peck on the Cheek, Tamil) in 2003, the most ever by any composer.
[23]Roja's score met with high sales and acclaim in both its original and dubbed versions, led by the theme song "
Chinna Chinna Aasai" bringing about a marked change in
film music at the time. Rahman followed this with successful scores for
Tamil–language films of the
Chennai film industry including Ratnam's politically charged
Bombay, the urbanite
Kadhalan,
Thiruda Thiruda and
S. Shankar's debut film
Gentleman, spurred by the popular dance song "
Chikku Bukku Rayile".
[24][25][26][27]Rahman worked with director
Bharathiraaja's
Kizhakku Cheemayile and
Karuththamma, producing successful Tamil rural folk inspired scores and delivered the grand saxophonic score for
K. Balachander's
Duet.
[28][29] The 1995 film
Indira and the romantic comedies
Mr. Romeo and
Love Birds all gained him considerable notice.
[30][31][32] His fanbase in Japan increased with
Muthu 's success there. His soundtracks gained him recognition in the Tamil Nadu film industry and around the world for his stylistic versatility incorporating
Western classical, Carnatic and Tamil traditional/folk music traditions,
jazz,
reggae and rock music.
[34][35][36][37] The
soundtrack of
Bombay sold 12 million copies worldwide.
[38] The "
Bombay Theme"—from Ratnam's
Bombay—would later reappear in his score of
Deepa Mehta's
Fire and various compilations and media around the world.
Rangeela, directed by
Ram Gopal Varma, marked Rahman's debut for
Hindi-language films made in the
Mumbai film industry.
[39] Many successful scores for films including
Dil Se and the percussive
Taal followed.
[40][41] Sufi mysticism would inspire the track "
Chaiyya Chaiyya" from the former, as well as the composition "
Zikr" from his score for the film
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero for which he created large symphonic orchestral and choral arrangements.
[18] His score for the Chennai production
Minsaara Kanavu garnered Rahman his second National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1997, and a
South FilmFare Award for Best Music Direction in a Tamil film, breaking a record with six consecutive wins in the latter category. Rahman would go onto win the award a further three consecutive times. Musical cues in scores for
Sangamam and
Iruvar employed Carnatic vocals and instruments such as the veena with leads of rock guitar and jazz.
[42] In the 2000s Rahman created hit scores for
Rajiv Menon's
Kandukondain Kandukondain,
Alaipayuthey,
Ashutosh Gowariker's
Swades and
Rang De Basanti.
[43] He composed songs with Hindustani motifs for
Water (2005). By the end of 2003, Rahman had sold more than 150 million records of his
film scores and
soundtracks for over 50 film scores worldwide.
[9][38][44] Rahman has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as
Javed Akhtar,
Gulzar,
Vairamuthu and
Vaali. He has consistently produced commercially successful soundtracks when collaborating with particular film directors such as Mani Ratnam
who he has worked with since
Roja, and the director S. Shankar in the films
Gentleman,
Kadhalan,
Indian,
Jeans,
Mudhalvan,
Nayak,
Boys,
Sivaji and
Enthiran.
[45]In 2005, Rahman extended his Panchathan Record Inn studio by establishing
AM Studios in Kodambakkam, Chennai, thereby creating the most cutting-edge studio in Asia.
[46][47] In 2006, Rahman launched his own music label, KM Music.
[48] Its first release was his score to the film
Sillunu Oru Kaadhal.[49] Rahman scored the
Mandarin language picture
Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003 after researching and utilizing
Chinese and
Japanese classical music,
[50] and won the
Just Plain Folks Music Award For Best Music Album for his score of the 2006 film
Varalaru (God Father).
[51] He co-scored the
Shekhar Kapoor project and his first British film,
Elizabeth: The Golden Age, in 2007.
[52] He garnered an
Asian Film Award nomination for Best Composer at the
Hong Kong International Film Festival for his
Jodhaa Akbar score.
[53] His compositions have been sampled for other scores within India,
[54] and appeared in such films as
Inside Man,
Lord of War,
Divine Interventionand
The Accidental Husband. In 2008, Rahman scored his first Hollywood picture, the comedy
Couples Retreat released the next year, which won him the
BMILondon Award for Best Score.
[55] Rahman scored the film
Slumdog Millionaire in 2008, for which he won a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards, becoming the first Asian to do so. The songs "
Jai Ho" and "
O...Saya" from the soundtrack of this film met with commercial success internationally. In 2010, Rahman composed scores for the romance film
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, blockbuster sci-fi romance film
Enthiran and
Danny Boyle's
127 Hours.
