A.R. Rehman

Grace personified beyond Golden Globe

A.R. Rehman.........And the Golden Globe goes to………A. S. Dileep Kumar for music for Slumdog Millionaire…

Puzzled……?

Do not be! Because that was how the world knew A. R. Rehman before he converted to Sufi Islam in 1987.

As the coveted statuette landed into the hands of the 43-year-old musical wizard, Rehman must have said his words of thanks to Almighty that was not a lip service but a genuine acknowledgement of a guiding force that has sculpted a remarkably outstanding career.

Born to R. K. Shekhar, a composer and conductor for Malayalam language films in Keralite cinema, and Kareema Begum in 1966, it goes beyond doubt that seeds of love for music must have been sown very early in the boy. 
Nature was not much kind to the young Rehman. He lost his father, who had been suffering from stomach cancer, when he was just nine years old and Kareema had to struggle hard to keep the family of four children going. In order to make a living, she had to rent out two keyboards left by her husband. Under the influence of the Sufi mystic Karimullah Shah Qadri, she found profound solace and spiritual strength as she battled her husband’s illness and later she chose to covert the family to Islam. 

Rehman’s tryst with public performance happened when he was barely 11 years old. Pecuniary hurdles could not hold back the aspirations of the prodigiously gifted boy. His voyage to stardom began as a small town keyboard player and an arranger in bands. Rahman is the founder of the Chennai based rock group, “Nemesis Avenue”.

In 1992, he had his successful stint with tinsel world for composing the soundtrack for Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Roja that was listed in TIME’s “Top 10 Movie Soundtracks of All Time” in 2005. Everything changed with the film Roja. The music was superbly scored and it earned international fame. 
 
For Rahman, Roja is matchless and any comparison with it is out of place. It was the music composition of this film that catapulted him to the league of top music directors. The notes of the soundtrack had its own exclusive uniqueness, heralding in a new age of music genealogy. The trend continued with Ram Gopal Varma directed Rangeela in 1995.  Over the years, Rahman associated with the people he understands and trusts. He believes that music is beautiful and soulfully pure, so it must be guarded against vulnerabilities.

From Ashutosh Gowarikar to Amir Khan, Subhash Ghai to Shanker and from Mani Ratnam to Shyam Benegal, Rahman has struck a special bond.  

He made an album Vande Mataram (1997) on India’s 50th anniversary of independence to great success. He followed it up with an album for the Bharat Bala–directed video Jana Gana Mana, a mélange of performances by many leading exponents and artists of Indian classical music. Rahman has written compositions for ads and composed several orchestrations for athletic events, T.V. and internet media publications, documentaries and short films.

In 1999, Rahman performed with Michael Jackson in Munich, Germany, for his “Michael Jackson and Friends Concert” along with choreographers Shobhana and Prabhu Deva Sundaram and a Tamil cinema dancing troupe. He composed his maiden stage production Bombay Dreams following a commission from musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, a success in London’s West End. With Finnish folk music band Värttinä, he wrote the music for The Lord of the Rings theatre production and in 2004, Rahman composed the piece “Raga’s Dance” for Vanessa-Mae’s album Choreography.
In the last six years, Rahman has made three successful world tours of his concerts to audiences in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Dubai, UK, Canada, the US and India.

Rahman’s World
A glimpse into his world tells us about his tenacious privacy about everything of him. The KM Music Conservatory imparts training on full-time foundation and part-time preparatory courses in music for youngsters.

His AM Studio, named after his Sufi guru, is a well-equipped recording studio where likes of John McLaughlin, and Vishal Shekhar of Om Shanti Om and Aja Nachle fame have worked. 

Music Style 
Rahman is known for writing film songs that amalgamate elements of Carnatic music, Western classical, Hindustani music and the Qawwali style of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Symphonic orchestral themes have accompanied his scores, where he has employed leitmotif. In the 1980s, Rahman recorded and played arrangements on mono, synonymous with the era of predecessors such as K. V. Mahadevan and Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy, but later his methodology changed. Rahman worked and experimented on fusing traditional instruments with new electronic sounds and technology.

His interest and outlook in music stems from his love of experimentation.

Self-Reflection

Rehman is his own best critic. He believes that one has to learn from one’s inner consciousness.

Even if it approves your work, you may go wrong. You have to keep an open mind- always ready to take inputs. He goes on believing that trauma and pressures pay you in return.  

After stupendous success at Golden Globe, Slumdog millionaire has been nominated for Oscars. God willing, Rahman is soon on his way to add one more chapter to his glorious career.

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