A R Rahman birthday

Academy award winner, the Mozart of Madras, A R Rahman is celebrating his 48th birthday today.  A R Rahman was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on January 6, 1967. His father, R. K. Shekhar, was a film-score composer and conductor for Tamil and Malayalam films. A R Rahman's birth name was A. S. Dileep Kumar.

A R Rahman lost his father when he was 9 years old. A R Rahman, took the responsibility of his family on his young shoulders by playing keyboards for music composers. later at the age of 23, in 1989 he converted to Islam and took the name A R Rahman [Allah Rakha Rahman]

A R Rahman made his debut as a composer for Mani Rathnam's movie Roja. the songs of the movie made him a overnight sensation all over India. and he received a National award for best music director for Roja.

what happened after Roja is history now. he became one of the most successful and celebrated music composer from India who took the Indian music to the world stage.

personally I'm hardcore a r rahman fan. from the very early age I became a r rahman fan.  the 90's a r rahman songs became a staple diet for me at that age.  the kind of music a r rahman introduced was something new and fresh that made me to listen to it again and again. he introduced lot of singers to Tamil music industry that enriched his songs and it gave a new experience to the listeners.

1992 to 1998 was the period where rahman was at the peek of his career producing his greatest hit songs. I used to eagerly wait for his next soundtrack. the songs of movies like Gentleman, Kadhalan, Thiruda Thiruda, Bombay, May Madham, Indian, Rangeela, Love Birds, Kadhal Desam, Mr.Romeo, Jeans, Dilse [ you name it] made me to became addicted to his music and diehard fan.

as his reputation start to grow in a drastic phase, so does the criticisms for his music. there was lot of criticism about his music. some used to say it is just a computer generated sound with no soul, some said it is very loud and fast, difficult to understand lyrics because of the dominance of instruments and so on.

there was lot of debates about his music. I remember those days when I used to argue with one of my uncle who used criticize rehman music. and I agree to some extent that lyrics were suppressed in some songs but i never agreed that his songs don't have soul. Kadhal Rojave is good enough example to show that his songs will stir your souls. he gave songs for all moods.

not just the songs, the background scores of the movies also made lot impact on me. may it be Bombay theme music or kadhal desam's romantic and youthful BGM's from which he could have made some great songs separately. these are just examples.

They called A R Rahman Isai Puyal [Musical Storm] for creating waves in Tamil music industry. but the musical storm had turned as Musical Breeze in lot of songs and made us emotional and touched our heart.

I am little disappointed about a r rahman's recent songs. I thought something is missing somewhere. the typical A R Rahman touch is what I feel is the thing that is missing in his recent songs. perhaps he is trying to experiment with new genres or new sound and try to expand the boundaries or may the he was too much influenced by working in the western projects. I'm not sure and I'm certainly don't qualify to criticize his music or anybody else's music for that matter.

but as a ardent fan of a r rahman my heart always longing to songs like kadhla rojave,oru vellai mazhai, minnale, naalai ulagam illai endral, nila kaaygirathu, uyire uyire, thendrale thendrale, oor vennila, oru naal oru pozhudu, anbhe anbhe, pacchai kiligal, pacchai nirame and so on..

I'm not jus fan of A R Rahman the composer but A R Rahman the man. His simplicity and down to earth attitude are the things that we should learn from him. no matter how big or how global he became, he never forget his roots. he never took his success to his mind and no big talks, no I'm the best or number one. every time only his music has spoken and the world had responded the way it should. he attributed all his success to god up there. [Ella Pugazhyum Irainanukke]

I always respected, loved and looked up to him. he is my idol. as I'm writing this post, I have to mention that a r rahman's smiling picture in my wallet might me blushing.

on his birthday, I wish him to have a great life with lot more success and peace. and as a fan I'm looking forward for some great music and I also wish all the best for Oscars.

many more happy returns of the day.

Happy birthday A R Rahman.


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