A. R. Rahman

• 1. A Speech for His Mother

  ›

  At the 81st Academy Awards, A. R. Rahman opened his thanks with a line borrowed from Hindi cinema. He said, "There is a Hindi dialogue, mere pass ma hai, which means 'even if I have got nothing I have my mother here'." Just before his speech, he had spoken a Tamil phrase translated from the Quran, "Ellā pugaḻum iṟaivaṉukkē," meaning all praise to God.

  Rahman is an Indian composer, record producer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Most of his work is for Indian cinema, mainly in Tamil and Hindi, with occasional trips into international film. He is also known by the initials ARR.

  How did a boy who left school to play keyboards end up on that stage? Why does he carry a name different from the one he was born with? And what is it about his sound that makes directors in India, Britain and Hollywood keep calling him back?

  23133

• 2. Keyboards and a New Name

  ›

  On the 6th of January 1967 in Madras, a boy named Dileep Kumar Rajagopala was born. His father, R. K. Shekhar, composed and conducted music for Malayalam films. The boy began studying piano at age four and helped in his father's studio by playing the keyboard.

  When Rahman was nine, his father died. Renting out the family's musical equipment became the household income, and his mother, Kareema, raised him. At Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan he had to work to support the family, so he missed classes and failed exams. In a 2012 interview, he said his mother was summoned and told to take him begging in the streets of Kodambakkam instead of sending him back to school.

  He spent a year at a school called MCN. He then joined the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School, where he was admitted for his musical talent and formed a band with classmates. After talking it over with his mother, he dropped out to become a full-time musician.

  At age 11, Rahman began playing in the orchestra of M. K. Arjunan, a Malayalam composer and close friend of his father. He had already trained under Master Dhanraj. He went on to work with M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, Hamsalekha and many other composers. He toured the world with Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar. A scholarship from Trinity College London took him to the Trinity College of Music, and he earned a diploma in Western classical music.

  The band Roots paired him with his childhood friend, the percussionist Sivamani, along with Suresh Peters, John Anthony, JoJo and Raja. He also founded a Chennai rock group called Nemesis Avenue. The synthesizer fascinated him most, because he saw it as the "ideal combination of music and technology". In 1989, he and Sivamani programmed the song "Kalikalam" for the Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking.

  In 1984, Rahman was introduced to the Qadiri tariqa, a Sufi path, when his younger sister became seriously ill. His mother was a practising Hindu, yet Sufism eventually influenced her and the rest of the family. In 1989, he converted to Islam together with his family.

  He told the interviewer Karan Thapar that he had never liked his birth name, because it did not match his self-image. According to the biography AR Rahman: The Spirit of Music by Nasreen Munni Kabir, a Hindu astrologer suggested the names Abdul Rahman and Abdul Rahim. Rahman connected with the first at once. His mother later added "Allah Rakha" after it came to her in a dream, giving him the initials AR.

  214172234

• 3. Roja and the Backyard Studio

  ›

  In 1987, while he was still known as Dileep, Rahman wrote jingles for a line of watches launched by Allwyn. He also arranged advertising jingles that became hugely popular. One for Titan Watches borrowed its theme from Mozart's Symphony no. 25. Documentaries and Indian television channels gave him more early commissions.

  In 1992, the director Mani Ratnam asked him to score the Tamil film Roja. That same year, Rahman started Panchathan Record Inn, a recording and mixing studio in his own backyard. It became the most advanced studio in India and arguably one of the most sophisticated in Asia. The cinematographer Santosh Sivan also signed him for the Malayalam film Yoddha, starring Mohanlal, which came out in September 1992.

  Roja won Rahman the Silver Lotus for Best Music Director at the 40th National Film Awards. The score succeeded in both its original and dubbed versions, led by the innovative theme "Chinna Chinna Aasai". In 2005, Time placed it among the ten best soundtracks of all time. The film critic Richard Corliss called it an "astonishing debut work" that showed Rahman's gift for "alchemizing outside influences until they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman".

  More Tamil hits followed for the Chennai film industry. Mani Ratnam's politically charged Bombay arrived, along with Thiruda Thiruda and Kaadhalan. S. Shankar's debut film Gentleman brought the dance song "Chikku Bukku Rayile". With the director Bharathiraaja, Rahman made rural folk-inspired songs for Kizhakku Cheemayile and Karuththamma. K. Balachander's Duet featured memorable saxophone themes.

  The Bombay soundtrack sold 15 million copies worldwide. Its "Bombay Theme" came back in Deepa Mehta's Fire, in the 2002 Palestinian film Divine Intervention and in the 2005 Nicolas Cage film Lord of War. The success of Muthu also won Rahman an audience in Japan.

  562738

• 4. Hindi Cinema Calls

  ›

  Rangeela, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, was Rahman's Bollywood debut. Dil Se.. and the percussive Taal followed. Sufi mysticism inspired "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from the first of those films. It also shaped "Zikr" from his album for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero, which carried elaborate orchestral and choral arrangements.

  Back in Tamil cinema, the album for Minsara Kanavu earned his second National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1997. It also brought a South Filmfare Award for Best Music Direction in a Tamil film. That win set a record of six consecutive victories, and he later took the award three more years in a row. The albums for Sangamam and Iruvar mixed Carnatic vocals, the veena, rock guitar and jazz.

  In the 2000s, he scored Kandukondain Kandukondain, Alai Payuthey, Swades and Rang De Basanti. For Water in 2005, he wrote songs with Hindustani motifs. He worked with the lyricists Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Vairamuthu and Vaali. With Mani Ratnam and S. Shankar he made commercially successful soundtracks, including Indian, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Sivaji, Enthiran and 2.0.

  In 2005, Rahman expanded Panchathan Record Inn by opening AM Studios in Kodambakkam, Chennai. The next year he launched his own label, KM Music, with his score for Sillunu Oru Kaadhal.

  The 2008 film Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na proved popular with Indian youth. Jodhaa Akbar won IIFA awards for best music direction and score. In 2010, Rahman composed for Imtiaz Ali's musical Rockstar, and in 2012 he worked with Yash Chopra on Jab Tak Hai Jaan. His music for Mani Ratnam's Kadal topped the iTunes India chart that December.

  Rahman claimed to have worked on 12 films in 2014, one of his busiest years. His first release that year was Imtiaz Ali's road movie Highway. In 2018, he received a national award for the background score of the film Mom.

  275424952

• 5. Sound and Style

  ›

  The director Baz Luhrmann first met Rahman's music through Bombay and Lagaan. He later said he was amazed at the "sheer diversity of styles" in it, from swinging brass bands to West End musicals. The producer Ron Fair considers Rahman one of the world's great living composers in any medium.

  Rahman is skilled in Carnatic music, Western and Hindustani classical music, and the Qawwali style of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. His film songs blend these and other genres, layering instruments from different traditions in an improvisational way. His compositions use counterpoint, orchestration and the human voice in ways critics call auteuristic, and his appeal crosses class and culture in Indian society.

  During the 1980s, Rahman recorded monaural arrangements, as his predecessors K. V. Mahadevan and Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy had done. He also played piano in Ilaiyaraaja's troupe for hundreds of movies. Later his method changed, and he began fusing traditional instruments with electronic sounds and new technology.

  His background scores lean on subtle orchestration and ambient sound. He uses guitars, cello, flute, strings, keyboard and the harpejji. Alongside them come the santoor, shehnai, sitar, mrudangam, veena and tabla.

  Rahman introduced 7.1 surround sound technology to South Indian films. He is one of India's best-selling music artists, with an estimated 150 million records sold worldwide. Fans call him "Isai Puyal", meaning Musical Storm, and "Mozart of Madras".

  6636468

• 6. Stages and Screens Abroad

  ›

  In 1999, Rahman joined the choreographers Shobana and Prabhu Deva and a Tamil film-dancing troupe to perform with Michael Jackson. The show was the Michael Jackson and Friends concert in Munich, Germany. In 2002, Andrew Lloyd Webber commissioned him to write the music for his first stage production, Bombay Dreams.

  For the 2003 Mandarin-language film Warriors of Heaven and Earth, he researched Chinese and Japanese classical music before scoring it. In 2007, he co-scored Shekhar Kapur's second British film, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The Finnish folk band Värttinä worked with him on the Toronto production of The Lord of the Rings. In 2004, he composed "Raga's Dance" for Vanessa-Mae, performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

  His music for Slumdog Millionaire won a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards, which was a first for an Asian. "Jai Ho" and "O... Saya" from the soundtrack succeeded around the world. "Jai Ho" took Best Original Song, shared with Gulzar. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, he won Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Song Written for Visual Media.

  Couples Retreat, in 2009, was his first Hollywood film, and its score won a BMI award for best score. Danny Boyle's 127 Hours then brought Golden Globe, BAFTA and two Academy Award nominations in 2011. In summer 2012, Rahman wrote a Punjabi song for the London Olympics opening ceremony, which Boyle directed.

  On the 24th of November 2009, Rahman performed at a White House state dinner arranged by President Barack Obama for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On the 11th of June 2010, he began his Jai Ho Concert world tour at Nassau Coliseum in New York, with 16 cities scheduled.

  In 2011, Mick Jagger announced the supergroup SuperHeavy, with Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and Rahman. Jagger was to sing Rahman's composition "Satyameva Jayate", meaning "The Truth Alone Triumphs". In December 2019, he released "Ahimsa" with the Irish band U2, named for the Sanskrit word for non-violence.

  3346757781

• 7. Mentors and Charity

  ›

  In 2004, Rahman was appointed global ambassador of the Stop TB Partnership, a project of the WHO. That year he also worked with Yusuf Islam on "Indian Ocean", with a-ha keyboard player Magne Furuholmen and Travis drummer Neil Primrose. Proceeds helped orphans in Banda Aceh affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. He was also one of over 70 artists on "We Are the World 25 for Haiti".

  In 2008, Rahman opened the KM Music Conservatory beside his studio in Kodambakkam, Chennai. It trains aspiring musicians in vocals, instruments, music technology and sound design, and it has a symphony orchestra. The violinist L. Subramaniam sits on its advisory board. In 2009, Rahman founded the Sunshine Orchestra, which gives economically and socially deprived children free music education through the conservatory.

  Qutub-E-Kripa, an ensemble of young KM Music Conservatory musicians, is co-credited with Rahman on background scores for 24, Tamasha, Sarkar and 2.0. The group also scored the Netflix show Daughters of Destiny.

  Rahman launched ARRived, India's first YouTube Original, to find the country's best singing talent. Its first of 13 episodes went online on the 7th of November 2018. Shaan, Vidya Vox and Clinton Cerejo joined him as judges. On the 16th of January 2019, Maruti Suzuki India launched NEXA Music, where 24 artists would be mentored by Rahman and Cerejo.

  When he announced the Ta Futures project, which celebrates the sounds of Tamil Nadu, he said, "I want them to create and compose their future." In 2019, he and his ensemble played a full dinner concert for free at the New York gala of Pratham, an organisation that supports education for underprivileged children. Afterward he wrote that his "long time dream of performing #Sufimusic for human causes came true".

  413890

• 8. Honours and Family

  ›

  Rahman married Saira Banu in 1995, and they have three children, Khatija, Raheema and Ameen. Ameen sang "NaNa" from Couples Retreat, and Khatija sang "Pudhiya Manidha" from Enthiran. The composer G. V. Prakash Kumar is the son of Rahman's elder sister, A. R. Reihana. His younger sister Fathima heads the KM Music Conservatory. In November 2024, Rahman and Saira Banu announced their separation.

  In 2006, Stanford University honoured Rahman for his contributions to global music, and in 2009 Time named him among the world's 100 most influential people. In 2010, the Government of India gave him the Padma Bhushan, the nation's third-highest civilian award. He holds honorary doctorates from Middlesex University, Aligarh Muslim University, Anna University in Chennai and Miami University in Ohio.

  At Miami University in Ohio on the 7th of May 2012, Rahman said he had received a Christmas card from the family of the President of the United States. He added that he had also been invited to dinner at the White House. A street in Markham, Ontario, Canada, was named after him in November 2013. On the 4th of October 2015, the government of Seychelles named him Cultural Ambassador. In January 2018, the government of Sikkim appointed him its Brand Ambassador.

  On the 24th of October 2014, Berklee College of Music awarded him an honorary doctorate at a concert of his music. He said the honour brought his life full circle. Early in his career, he had planned to study at Berklee before the chance to score Roja came along. In 2024, he was named Honorary President of Trinity Laban.

  In 2017, Rahman made his debut as a director and writer with the virtual reality film Le Musk. On the 17th of November 2024, he received the XTIC Award for Innovation for it, presented at IIT-Madras.

  4891112