AR Rahman (Allah Rakha Rahman)

AR Rahman was born as Dileep Kumar on January 6th 1966 in Chennai to music composer R.K. Sekhar. When Dileep was nine year old his father passed away, after which he started his musical training with a Sufi saint which lead him to embrace Islam and he became Allah Rakha Rahman.

When Rahman was eleven, south music director Ilaiyaraja made him his troupe member. After working for a couple of years, AR Rahman won a scholarship to Trinity College in Oxford University where he went to learn music.

AR Rahman returned to India and started his own music studio in Chennai where he composed ad jingles for which he won an award as well. Mani Ratnam was the Chief Guest at the award ceremony and he asked AR Rahman to compose music for his movie ‘Roja’. It was with ‘Roja’ that AR Rahman began his musical journey in Indian cinema and since then has composed music for Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi movies.

AR Rahman also composed music for the famous Broadway musical ‘Bombay Dreams’ in 2002. AR Rahman is regarded as one of the best music directors in India and is believed to charge the highest fee for composing music. AR Rahman composed the musical theme for Cellular Giant ‘Airtel’ and is also the brand ambassador for World Space Satellite Radio.