This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Young Rahman had a musically rich upbringing, but after his composer father R K Shekhar’s premature death, the family had to rent out instruments to make ends meet and the maverick ventured into music making himself. “It’s a very strange thing….actually going back to my childhood story. I experienced most of the disappointments in my life at that time. So whatever happens now, I suspect that hope, I always suspect that happiness. And even that moment of happiness doesn’t exist because am waiting for how it’s going to fool me and give me a kick again.” The impossibly mild mannered and soft-spoken composer had a hard time escaping the shadows of his keyboard at first. “I have to deliver my music to the public. Slowly, changed myself and started singing and began to extend myself as much as could… to the limits that could go. But I’m still not comfortable.” And it’s a good thing he did too. His visceral rendition of Vande Mataram earned him the wrath of a few old schoolers but brought out a previously dormant patriotic zeal in the younger generation. The Mozart of Madras’ repertoire includes recent epic Jodhaa Akbar, coming-of-age flicks like Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na and work on international productions like Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Lord of the Rings musical. His win doesn’t mean he’s kicking back though. He’s already in Chennai working late into the night on a Rajnikanth production. “I’m very restless during the day because there are so many things happening. It’s very distracting. I work from three p.m. to early morning. When I have mixing to do, I start as late as seven in the evening. Then sleep till noon. But this is only when I’m in Chennai; not when abroad; there, work times are more regular.” That Rahman has stood the litmus test is evidenced by the fact that his tunes linger on long after the movies they were associated with fade to the recesses of the mind. Strongly inclined towards philanthropy, the genius established the A. R. Rahman Foundation and continues to work with it to rid the world of poverty. At the time this article was written, he had earned a BAFTA nomination and three Oscar nominations and a win seems only imminent.
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