A R Rahman is not just a musician. He is a school of music. The son of a band composer for Tamil and Malayalam films, legendary musician A R Rahman celebrates his birthday on January 6.
The musician, who turns 54 this year, dropped out of school due to the untimely death of his father, and later entered the world of music.
His birth name was Dilip Kumar, he later changed it to Rahman after converting to Islam. Some of his best work happened when he collaborated with ace director Mani Ratnam. He made his debut by composing for Mani Ratnam’s Roja in 1992, bagging several awards for the same.
The soundtrack of Bombay created by Rahman, which is also Mani Ratnam directorial, was used in Deepa Mehta ‘Fire’, featured in Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage’s 2005 film ‘Lord of War’. His songs “Yaro Yarodi”, “Swasame”, “Rang De” had been used in the crazy love story of Uma Thurman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s ‘The Accidental Husband”. The track ‘Chaiya Chaiya’ is used in the intro of the movie ‘Inside Man’
We do know about ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, which gave him the Oscars. However the Grammy award winner had scored music for other international projects. On his occasion of his birthday , here are 10 international films the music maestro worked .
1.Warriors of Heaven and Earth(2003)
This is a Chinese film directed by He Ping. It was Rahman’s first international foray and he scored 14 songs and film’s theme music. This movie was China’s official entry to the Oscars that year.
2.Provoked(2006)
This British film had Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai in the lead role. The film revolved around the theme of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Rahman’s music was unique and haunting at the same time.
3.Elizabeth : The Golden Age( 2007)
Shekhar Kapur directed the film which had Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush as cast. A R Rahman scored 20 songs including the theme music. However, Scottish music producer Craig Armstrong was brought into the project and re-did almost all of the songs in the film, which Shekhar Kapur later revealed that he regretted the decision.
4.Couples Retreat(2009)
This film didn’t perform well both commercially and critically . Unfortunately Rahman’s music really did not stand out in this mess of a film.
5.127 Hours( 2010)
A R Rahman once again united with Slumdog Billionaire’s director Danny Boyle and created 14 tracks for the film. It was well received and nominated for an Academy Award yet again. However he did not win the gold.
6.People Like Us(2012)
A slice-of-life movie, which starred Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks in lead roles. The film bombed at the box office, but Rahman’s music stood out.
7.Million Dollar Arm(2014)
This film, directed by Craig Gillespie, was based on a real life reality show of the same name, in which an American baseball scout makes his way to India, to find the next great pitcher. Rahman’s music was appreciated, even if it did not reach Slumdog-level popularity.
8. The Hundred Foot Journey (2014)
This American film had Helen Mirren, Om Puri, and Charlotte Le Bon in lead roles. The film was about two rival families, one India and one French, whose young kids fall in love with each other. Rahman’s score had 16 tracks and they were generally praised.
9. Muhammed: The Messenger of God (2015)
This is the movie from ace director Majid Majidi. A trivia about the movie is that Rahman took almost six months to understand the kind of music that Majidi wanted for the project. The film had 20 tracks that had a heavy Persian influence.
10.Viceroy’s House( 2017)
This Gurinder Chadha-directed film was based on the political muscling that was happening during India’s independence and subsequent partition. It had Huma Qureshi in the lead role. The film sank without a trace, and so did the music.
- Blinded by the light (2019)
This is a critically acclaimed British comedy- drama directed by Gurinder Chadha. This coming-age-of-story revolves around Javed, a British-Pakistani Muslim teenager whose life changed after he happened to listen to music of Bruce Springsteen.
