Today is The Mozart of Madras and musical pride of India, A.R. Rahman’s 46th birthday! In celebration, let’s take a look at a few milestones in the maestro’s career.
Taking on the Tamil Film Industry
Mani Ratnam approached Rahman in 1992 to compose the music for his Tamil film Roja. The music was a critical and commercial success in both Tamil and the dubbed Hindi version and won Rahman a National Award for the soundtrack.
Hello Bollywood!
Rahman’s foray into the Hindi Film industry began with Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela, which is no doubt one of his most memorable scores. Post the success of Rangeela, Rahman was unstoppable in Bollywood with films like Bombay, Dil Se, Taal, Lagaan and many others.
Independent Albums
Besides composing music for films Rahman, has often collaborated with other artists to create path-breaking music. Rahman’s Vande Mataram is till date the largest selling non-film album in India. Rahman is also a part of the musical group Superheavy – remember we told you about their first song Miracle Worker?
Hollywood Calling!
Rahman became the first Indian to win two Academy Awards for the film Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, bringing home the awards for Best Original Music Score & Best Original Song for Jai Ho. Rahman later went on to compose the music for his first Hollywood film Couples Retreat and he recently announced his completion of Steven Speilberg’s film Welcome to People.
Future Plans
Rahman has done a tremendous job balancing his Hollywood projects while continuing to create music for his audience back home. While 2011 saw the songs of Rockstar take over the charts, the songs of the upcoming film Ekk Dewana Tha are already catching on.
Team MissMalini wishes A.R. Rahman a very happy birthday! We can’t wait to see what he creates in 2012!