By titli basu | March 23, 2014 0 Comments

Net Worth: $280 million

Career/Profession: Music composer, Singer- Songwriter

Age: 47

“The more I compose, the more I know that I don’t know it all. I think it’s a good way to start. If you think you know it all, the work becomes a repetition of what you’ve already done”.

Now this is one Indian no one needs an introduction about. He has not only soothed our ears and souls with his jaw dropping and mesmerizing music, but has also managed to take our motherland on a global platform with his Oscar award winning music and background score for Slumdog Millionaire. Even before the film came his way, he was scoring music for mainstream Hindi cinema for over a decade. Each of his accomplishment was something we all can proudly say was way different from one another, which quite effectively dissolved into the flavor of the film, thus etching the film in our memories for a lifetime.

Rahman has set up his own studio in Chennai, called the Panchathan Record Inn, which is one of the best and most high tech studios in Asia. In his career of more than two decades, he has worked both nationally and internationally and has won several awards which celebrate his talent. A. R. Rahman is one of the highest paid music composers of the world film industry.

The Musician is Born

Born on 6^th January 1967, this legendary musician was originally known as A.S Dileep Kumar in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to a musically affluent family. He used to assist his father who was a film music composer for Tamil and Malayalam films during recordings where young Rahman used to play the keyboard. In his early years, Rahman used to play various instruments like keyboard, piano, harmonium, synthesizer and guitar and mastered in each of them.

In the early years, he began his training under Master Dhanraj. At 11, he joined the orchestra of Malayalam composer M.K Arjunan. Soon he started working with many other composers down south and then obtained a scholarship with Trinity College, London and graduated with a diploma in Western classical music. In 1984, he and the rest of his family converted to Islam.

Rahman’s film career began in 1992 when he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose music for Roja. The film’s music was a huge hit and Rahman won the Rajat Kamal award for the Best Music Director at the National Film Awards. The success of Roja was followed by several other films, like Bombay, Kadhalan, Thiruda Thiruda and Gentleman. The soundtrack of Bombay sold 12 million copies worldwide and its tracks were used several times globally. With the music of Ram Gopal Verma’s Rangeela, Rahman made his debut in Bollywood. Films like Dil Se and Taal followed after that. Rahman won his second National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1997 and a south Filmfare award for Best Music Direction in a Tamil film for the film Minsaara Kanavu. In the 2000s, Rhman did some really notable work with several south Indian films like Kandukondain Kandukondain, Alaipayuthey and Hindi films like Swades and Rang De Basanti.

Ladder of Success

Rahman scored music in Mandarin Chinese for Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003 and won the Just Plain Folks Music Award. He also bagged the Asian Film Award for best composer at the Hong Kong International Film Festival for the music of Jodhaa Akbar. In 2008, Rahman made his Hollywood debut with the music of the comedy film Couples Retreat, which earned him the BMI London Award for Best Music Score. Also, his music for the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire won him a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards, being the first ever Asian to win these. That year he also scored the music for the youth film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, which was an instant hit among the youth.

In 2010, Rahman scored the music for two films down south and for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours. In 2011, he scored music for Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar, which remains one of his best works till date. He was widely acclaimed for the music of Rockstar and garnered both critical and commercial success.

2012 was a notable year for Rahman, when he got to work with Yash Chopra for the first and last time by scoring music for Jab Tak Hai Jaan. That year he also scored the music for Ekk Deewana Tha and for Mani Ratnam’s Kadal, which again, was a huge hit.

2013 saw two projects of Rahman, Raanjhanaa and Maryan. The soundtrack of the Tamil film, Maryan was a huge hit and it was selected as the iTunes India Best Tamil Album of 2013.

Charitable Work

A.R Rahman has always been involved in various charitable works. He was appointed the Global Ambassador of the Stop TB Partnership, a WHO project. He supports charities, like Save the Children. He worked with Yusuf Islam for a song which brought together many renowned musicians from across the world. The proceeds of the song were used to help the 2004 Tsunami victims. Rahman also composed music for a short film, called The Banyan in 2006, in aid of destitute women in Chennai.

Amidst all this success, this man remains unchanged. He is as grounded and modest as he was at the beginning of his career.