A.R. Rahman

A.R. Rahman's arrival on the South Indian film scene with Roja in 1992 marked a decisive shift in the nation's film-music landscape. Widely viewed as the leading Indian film composer of his generation and its most commercially dominant figure, he supplied scores for numerous major releases throughout his initial half-decade in the field. His collaborators have encompassed many of India's foremost vocalists alongside an expanding roster of global figures such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Zakir Hussain, L. Shankar, Apache Indian, and David Byrne.

Allah Rakha Rahman entered the world as A.S. Dileep Kumar on October 10th, 1966, in Madras, India. Classical piano lessons began at age four under his parents' direction, and by sixteen he had left formal schooling to pursue a career modeled on that of his father, R.K. Shekhar, a respected film musician, arranger, and conductor. Rahman first worked as a full-time session player on soundtracks for the prominent South Indian composer Ilaiyaraaja, yet the repetitive nature of that work prompted a change. Encouraged by a colleague, he turned to advertising, ultimately creating more than 300 jingles across five years.

The foundations of his cinematic career were laid in 1989 with the purchase of equipment and the assembly of a sound library at Panchathan Record Inn. Sharada Trilok's award-winning Leo Coffee commercial, whose music Rahman had written, led her to introduce him to her cousin, director Mani Ratnam. Impressed, Ratnam enlisted Rahman for K. Balachander's 1992 film Roja. The resulting score, an uncluttered blend of pop, rock, reggae, and traditional Indian elements, earned three Best Music Director awards and propelled the film to widespread success; originally produced in Tamil, both the movie and its soundtrack were later adapted into Hindi for North Indian audiences.

Rahman's profile rose quickly. He scored six films in 1993 and nine in 1994, among them Mani Ratnam's Bombay (1995), which examined a Hindu-Muslim marriage amid communal tensions. The music again crossed cultural boundaries, merging Eastern and Western traditions, and the theme appeared on Talvin Singh's Soundz of the Asian Underground compilation. In 1997 Rahman became the first Indian artist to sign with Sony Music, securing a three-year contract; his debut non-film album for the label, Vande Mataram, celebrated fifty years of Indian independence and reached stores in twenty-eight countries on August 15 of that year.

International performances followed in Europe, Canada, and the United States, and a recording session took place with David Byrne, owner of Luaka Bop. Andrew Lloyd Webber commissioned Rahman to compose for Bombay Dreams, a musical set in the Bollywood industry; work began in the second half of 2000, the show opened in London in 2002, and it ran for 284 regular performances at Broadway's Broadway Theatre from April 2004 to January 2005.

Following the turn of the millennium, Rahman's stature among global film composers continued to climb. He inaugurated AM Studios in 2005, considered among Asia's premier recording facilities and an extension of Panchathan Record Inn, then launched his own label, KM Music, the next year. Between 2001 and 2008 he served as musical director on nearly fifty films, chiefly in Hindi or Tamil, including further projects with Mani Ratnam (Kannathil Muthamittal, Ayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva, Guru) and collaborations with Rajiv Menon (Kandukondain Kandukondain), Shaad Ali (Saathiya), Ashutosh Gowariker (Swades), and S. Shankar (Boys, Sivaji). Additional credits include the 2003 Mandarin-language Warriors of Heaven and Earth directed by He Ping and the 2007 English-language Elizabeth: The Golden Age, co-composed with Craig Armstrong and directed by Shekhar Kapur, starring Cate Blanchett.

The 2008 British film Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, brought Rahman his broadest Western recognition to date. The picture secured eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, plus two for Rahman: Best Original Score and Best Song. Two songs from the film, "O... Saya" and "Jai Ho," received Oscar nominations; the latter won for Rahman and lyricist Gulzar. In 2010 he received the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honor, and the following year earned further Oscar nominations for best song and score for Boyle's 2010 film 127 Hours.

Subsequent Hollywood work encompassed the 2014 Disney co-production Million Dollar Arm and 2016's Pelé: Birth of a Legend, while his music also featured in the 2017 U.K.-India co-production Viceroy's House directed by Gurinder Chadha.