Inspiring Artists

Born as Dilip Kumar in a musically affluent Mudaliar Tamil family, A.R Rahman ( Allah Rakha Rahman)

today is the world’s most renowned artist in the field of music. He is known worldwide for his fantastic

music abilities. His charm of popularity can be measured from the number of awards that he has bagged

till now. He has won 14 Filmfare awards, 13 South Filmfare awards, 4 National awards, 2 Academy

awards, 2 Grammy awards, a Golden Globe award, a BAFTA award and the list continues… He is the man

who has redefined the contemporary Indian music on global platform. According to Time magazine, he

is the world’s most prominent and prolific composer. This calm and serene personality has and is still

being an ideal for so many budding artists. But it is not only music that inspires people around the globe;

there are many other qualities of him also that has made him an inspirational personality among novice

artists. Take a look.

His early life

The childhood days of A.R Rahman were not easy. His father Mr. R. K Shekhar was a film music

composer for Tamil and Malayalam films and A.R Rahman used to assist him since childhood. So, it was

from here that he developed a taste for music. Then, at the age of 9 he lost his father and his mother

took over the responsibility of family and home. His mother started renting out his father’s musical

equipments to earn bread and butter for the family. It was then when A.R Rahman understood the

meaning of responsibility.

His struggling days

After the death of father, A.R Rahman started taking music training under Master Dhanraj and by

the age of 11 he started working to earn for his family. In his initial days, he used to play musical

instruments for various orchestra. In his formative years, he worked as an arranger and keyboard player

for bands like “Roots”. Soon after this he started working with music composers also. It was from then

and there, when he also accompanied Zakir Hussain, L Shankar and Kumnakudi Vaidyanathan on world

tours. Even during his struggling days he continued with his studies. He got graduated from Chennai and

also obtained a diploma in Western classical music via college. He was so keen towards music and study

that even during his world tours he earned a scholarship from the Board of the Trinity College of music,

London.

His passion for music

During his formative years, A.R Rahman was so fascinated with technology and electronic gadgets that

he wanted to be a computer engineer. But destiny has planned something else and better for him. It

was his curiosity for technology that made him a master of electronic music instruments like Keyboard

Piano and Synthesizer as for him they were the ideal combination of music and technology.

The journey of A.R Rahman is not less than any fairy tale. He is not only the perfectionist of his field but

is also a serene and calm personality who is till working on his skills to transit into a better human being

as a whole. His root of upbringing and struggle has been so strong that he never gets affected by any

kind of superficial charm of stardom and awards. He is a true artist in a real sense.