By Sameer Wadekar, Bollywood Trade News Network

Mani Ratnam’s ROJA was released on 15th August 1992. It was the first time that Mani was working without the renowned music composer Ilaiyaa Raja and the critics were skeptic about the 25-year debutant Music director. But ROJA’s music became a huge success and the young AR Rahman was a household name overnight. The music was lapped up by the young and old alike and Rahman became the most sought after music director in the South. The freshness in his music, modern sound and the electronic feel came in as a fresh breeze of air that was cool and soothing. Rahman bagged every existing award including the Rajat Kamal (National Award), first ever by a debutant. AR Rahman had arrived on the scene and with the tremendous potential he possessed it was crystal clear that he was here to stay. Among the young musicians Rahman is probably the most original and he combines melody and electronic sounds so amicably that he ends up giving his score a rich tonal texture and an astounding contemporariness. Rahman formulated a style and musical pattern that was followed by many, in the years to come. He redefined film music and changed the entire way of creating and presenting it that was unheard of, before his emergence.

AR Rahman was born as Dileep Kumar on 6th January 1966 in Chennai. He had a sorrowful childhood as his father KA Sekhar, who was a music arranger in Malayalam movies, passed away when Rahman was just 9. He took to Islam as he was deeply influenced by its teachings and was rechristened Allah Rakha Rahman. Rahman had started learning music from a young age and later on at 19 begun accompanying numerous musicians like Illaiyaraja, Zakir Hussain and many others. Rahman then switched on to the advertising industry composing jingles, his most famous being the ones for Allwyn watches and Leo Coffee. With ROJA he jumped into film music full time thereby revolutionizing the business for the better. His film albums have all been chart busters like HUM SE HAI MUQABLA (with dancing sensation Prabhu Deva), BOMBAY, HINDUSTANI, DUET, SAPNAY etc. In 1997, he came out with his maiden non-film music album VANDE MATARAM, commemorating 50 years of Indian Independence. The album was a super hit and was acknowledged far and wide. But it was DIL SE, Mani Ratnam’s first Hindi movie that hurled Rahman onto the international scene. DIL SE’s soundtrack became phenomenally popular worldwide that due to its courtesy it was the first Indian film to enter the UK Top Ten. The legendary musician Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber was more than impressed with Rahman’s musical endowments and wished to work with the young whiz kid and thus was born the illustrious musical play BOMBAY DREAMS, supported by the acclaimed director Shekhar Kapoor. Rahman has also composed music for a Chinese film titled Tian Di Xiong (Warrior Of Heaven And Earth), directed by He Peng.

Rahman never did Hindi films quite often but since Subhash Ghai's TAAL (for which he swept the Film Fare award again), he has concentrated on more and more Bollywood flicks. Off late he has been scoring music for a lot of historical endeavors that includes the Oscar nominated LAGAAN and last year's much hyped MANGAL PANDEY: THE RISING. But he has now diverted to other genres and his forthcoming RANG DE BASANTI's soundtrack is already picking up. RDB is a youthful movie starring Aamir Khan and the songs are designed to fit the mood of the film and after listening to them one must say that Rahman has done an absolutely terrific job. Rahman had earlier done the music for RANGEELA that also starred Aamir Khan and Urmila and was directed by Ram Gopal Varma. RANGEELA was a love story and was an urban film and needless to say both the movie and the music were amazingly successful. . One must confess that right now AR Rahman is at its best; remember SWADES? The soulful rendition of the title song still haunts us and instills that feeling of patriotism. The heartfelt 'Yeh Tara Woh Tara' fetched Udit Narayan a National Award for Best Playback SInger.

AR Rahman today stands tall and is undoubtedly a cut above the rest. The entertainment industry has got highest of regards for this musical prodigy who has single handedly changed the course of Indian film music. His music is listened throughout the length and breadth of this nation even though most of his work is in his native language Tamil. He has been conferred upon every conceivable award on the list including the coveted RD Burman Film Fare Award for musical excellence and also the Tamil Nadu State Award. Rahman is known to be a committed and a thoroughly hard working professional. He is man of few words who lets his work do all the talking. After all the enviable success to his credit he still remains an utterly modest and down-to-earth human being who is most of the time shy and reclusive. But that’s how it is; that’s the stuff legends are made of. With his birthday on the 5th, we wish this enigmatic musician a happy birth anniversary. Let his melodies continue to enthrall and entertain the audience for years and years to come and may his genius keep on shining in the endless galaxy of that wonderful gift called Music!