AR Rahman - The journey of a genius

He is India’s favourite music director, a reluctant youth icon and one of the highest selling artists of the world. Once criticised for his predictable style, the man has long overcome the phase and manages to surprise his fans with a varied palate of musical offerings. Almost every album he comes up with now is refreshingly unique.

From the satin, soulful rhythms of Roja to the very foot-tapping, uber-cool patriotic beats of Rang De Basanti, he has made a nation swing to his tunes all along his journey to the Numero Uno spot.

Whatever his style or influence, one thing is for sure: Allah Rakha Rahman rarely, if ever, disappoints. Be it signature tunes for Airtel or ad jingle for Titan watches, Rahman has managed to catch the imagination of everyone from eight to 80.

A R Rahman was born as A Sekhar Dileep Kumar to a Tamil family on January 6, 1966. His father worked as a music arranger for Malayalam films. At the age of nine his father died and his family began renting musical equipment to make ends meet.

It was during those tough times that a Muslim Sufi saint took young Dileep under his tutelage and converted him to Islam - hence the name Allah Rakha Rahman. It’s perhaps this spiritual connection that manifests itself as subtle Sufi influences in popular Rahman numbers like Main Albeli (Zubeidaa) and Piya Haaji Ali (Fiza).

At 11, Rahman joined legendary Indian composer Ilayaraja’s troupe as a keyboardist. He later joined the orchestra of popular musicians, including M S Vishwanathan and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, on world tours. The exposure helped him to obtain a scholarship to the Trinity College at Oxford University, Britain, where he received a degree in Western classical music.

But Rahman’s big date with cinema came in 1991. Ace Tamil movie director Mani Ratnam was on the lookout for a new composer for his films. At an awards function, he chanced upon the 24-year-old who received the award for the best ad jingle for Leo Coffee brand.