AR Rahman completes 29 years in film industry. Jai ho!
What's the story
Music maestro AR Rahman completes 29 years in the film industry today.
Roja, his debut as a music director, released today in 1992. The landmark venture not only gave us Rahman, the magician with the keyboard, it also gave us the powerful duo of Rahman and filmmaker/producer Mani Ratnam.
Since then, they have collaborated for several projects, the latest being Navarasa.
Congratulations, Rahman saab!
Early years
The maestro's musical training started pretty early in life
Rahman's training in music and soor started early from Master Dhanraj.
With time, he came in contact with stalwarts like Zakir Hussain, Ilaiyaraaja, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L Shankar, among others, and started accompanying them on world tours.
That's how he learned many nuances of music, which get reflected in his creations.
The Trinity College London scholarship holder then veered to composing ad jingles.
Debut
'Roja' brought Rahman to spotlight, and life wasn't the same
Remember the popular jingle of Titan watches?
That came out of Rahman's stable, for which he took help from Mozart's Symphony no.25.
But when those five tracks of Roja got published, we got the Isai Puyal (musical storm) we know of.
He also won a National Award for the same, deservedly so!
Since then, the reticent man went on churning out several unforgettable tunes.
Fun fact
He actually thought his Oscar trophies were lost and found
In 2009, Rahman created history by being the first Indian to grab two Academy Award trophies for Slumdog Millionaire.
But did you know his coveted trophies were lost and found?
It so happened that Rahman's mother put those safely somewhere, thinking they are gold-made.
After her death, when he searched, Rahman couldn't find them.
Finally, his son retrieved those from a separate cupboard.
Reality
When Rahman's Oscar win became 'kiss of death in Bollywood'
Last year, during Sushant Singh Rajput's death aftermath, when the insider v/s outsider debate was raging, Rahman rued that there's a "gang" in Bollywood that's preventing him from getting work.
Acknowledging, Shekhar Kapur called Oscar as "the kiss of death in Bollywood."
But can you really stop a tornado named Rahman?
In 2021 alone, he has 11 projects and another six for next year.
Information
The music composer also gives it back to the society
It's rightly said that there's "nothing like a bad Rahman song." And, he has been spreading this joy to poor children via his NGO, Sunshine Orchestra, which provide them music guidance for free. This, he believes, is his way of giving back. And, we agree!