A R Rahman
Biography
A
R Rahman lives in his joint family. The family consists of himself, his
wife Saira Banu, his 3 sisters (Raihana, Talath and Israth), his mother
(Kareema Begum), his two daughters (Kadhija and Raheema) and a son (
Khwaja Mohammad Roo mi Rahman ).His sisters Raihana, Talath and Israth
are professionally trained musicians. They often sing for him, and
appear on stage performances as well.
Sister Raihana’s son, GV Prakash is a born talent, and he’s into
music. He has sung songs for Rahman and now is an emerging music
director.
Rahman’s mother and wife do play the most important part in his music – they are his critics.
Rahman got married at the age of 27. And unlike in the Indian movies, it wasn’t love at first sight.
Rahman had told his mother what his bride needed to have: some
education, some beauty and loads of humility! His mother frequented the
same Sufi temple as Saira and her family. His mother first noticed her
there.
She cried Eureka when she saw this young girl praying in that Sufi
temple. The girl’s parents also were looking for a bridegroom for their
elder daughter, 21-year-old Saira. Her father is a Madras-based
businessman, who belongs to Kutch , Gujarat originally.
Saira is sister-in-law of the Tamil actor who’s also
called Rahman, and being a Rahman fan herself, she couldn’t let him
down.Rahman remembers, “My first meeting with Saira was rather amusing.
Back then, she only spoke Kutchi. I asked her whether she was interested
in marrying me. I’d also told her what kind of life was going to be
offered to her. She was very quiet then, but now I know she is anything
but quiet! I had to smile throughout our three-hour meeting and, by the
end of it, it was almost a pain.”
Rahman’s mother chose genuinely friendly Saira Banu to be his wife.
Theirs was an arranged marriage. Saira and Rahman got married on
Wednesday, March the 12th, 1995 in Chennai. It was a gala event.
About his personal life, Rahman once said “I’m very passionate about
music and have very little place in my life for anything else. But
whatever time I have after my recordings, I try and spend with my
family, especially with my younger daughter. She listens to most of my
songs and even has her favorites. It’s so wonderful to see your child
growing up. I don’t want to miss out these little pleasures in life.”
Saira and Rahman are blessed with two daughters and one son.
When asked ‘How much time do you spend with your
family?’ he answers, “I have realized that I must spend more time with
my family if I want them to listen to me.” He takes his children on
small trips and picnics. His elder daughter Kadhija doesn’t like the
autograph hunters running after him, so she restricts him from coming to
her school. His younger daughter Raheema has interest in music. His son
is too young, who shares the birthday with his father. He was born on
6th Jan 2002 and Rahman on 6th Jan 1966
ARR GURUS
Many people contributed to making Rahman what he is
today.Though he completed his schooling from the prestigious Padma
Seshadri Bal Bhavan in Chennai, and then shifted to the Madras Christian
College , Chennai.there are many others who contributed to his success –
as gurus and teachers.
Music Teachers
Dileep’s initiation in music happened in the early years. He obviously took the first music lessons from his father, RK Sekhar.
According to a story behind his music baptism, once a music director
and colleague of Sekhar, Sudarshanam Master found the four year old
playing a tune on the harmonium. Master covered the keys with a cloth.
It made no difference. Dileep replayed the tune effortlessly. This
impressed the music director who suggested that he be trained in music.
Dileep started taking his first music lessons on a piano and a pedal
organ when only four. He also began to formally learn Indian classical
music, carnatic from Dakshinamoorthy and N. Gopalakrishnan and
Hindustani from Krishnan Nair. He took classes in film music from
Nithyanandham and Western Classical from Jacob John. All this learning
experience enabled him to earn a scholarship to the famed Trinity
College of Music at Oxford University London, from where he obtained a
degree in Western Classical Music.
Once back in India , he continued to be a part of
various music troupes called Roots, Magic, Memosis, Aristocrats, and
Nemesis Avenue etc . He also learnt the Sufi Qawwali style from Nusrat
Fateh Ali Khan, in 1997, when he visited Lahore and met the great
Pakistani Sufi singer.There is one more in the list – his favorite
singer Hariharan – who teaches him Ghazals in relation to Hindustani
classical music. In late 1998, he formally learnt the ‘Hindustani
Khayaal Gayaki’ from siblings Ghulam Kader Murtaza Khan and Ghulam Kader
Mustafa Khan.
In 1998, while composing for Subhash Ghai’s ‘Taal’, he thought
learning Hindi and Urdu would help him compose music for the North
Indian style, and got in touch with Anand Bakshi, the famous lyricist.
Spiritual Teachers
When his sister was ill, he came across Pir Quadri. This was well
before Rahman was ‘born’.and Dileep was still ‘alive’. Pir advised him
frequently and taught him the purpose of life.
For Dileep, the meeting with Pir was an inner awakening and
cleansing. Pir taught him a different perspective of life. Soon he and
his family accepted Islam. Thus Dileep became Abdul Rahman.
It was Pir Quadri, who gave him the first lessons of Islam. After the
demise of Pir Quadri, he came in contact with Mehboob Aalam and
Mohammad Yusuf Bhai, who now continue to be his spiritual guide, mentor,
adviser, and guru.
For Rahman, learning is divine process. He says: “You’ve to learn
from the inside out. No one can teach you, none can make you spiritual.
There is only teacher, and that is your soul.”
THE RELIGION
After his father passed away, the burden of earning
the bread and butter for his family fell on Dileep’s shoulders at the
very young age of 11, and because of that, he had been struggling
extremely hard for some years.His family went through a rough patch
following his father’s death, which literally shook their world. He even
had to work in amateur Kannada plays at the age of 13, to earn money
for his family.
Because of these hardships, sometime afterwards he stopped believing
in the God. He believed that there was no God. There was a feeling of
restlessness within him. But later when he stabilized himself, he found
that the concept of God in Islam was very appealing to him.
He learnt that there can be no life without a force governing,
without God. And then he found what he was looking for – in Islam. It
all happened around 1988, when one of his sisters fell seriously ill,
with similar inexplicable conditions as their father. Numerous attempts
to cure her failed. Her condition progressively worsened. The family
tried everything from medicine to religious methods like havanas and
prayers in the church.
The family had given up all hope; when they came in contact with a
Muslim Pir called as Pir Karimulla Shah Qadri or Sheik Abdul Qadir
Jeelani Sahib or Pir Qadri.
The family had earlier gone to the Pir when Dileep’s
father had similar troubles, but were too late to save him. With Pir’s
prayers and blessings, Dileep’s sister made a miraculous recovery. Pir
Quadri advised the family frequently. It was Pir who taught them the
purpose of life, and also led Dileep and his family members to accept
Islam.Rattled by the bad experiences earlier in the case of his father
and now his sister, and influenced by the teachings of the Pir and the
succor that they found in him, the entire family converted to Islam. So
great was the influence of the Pir on the family, that Dileep started
using the place which he had blessed first as his music room, and later,
when he started becoming successful, a studio. When the family shifted
to their current house, they resolved to stick to the devotion. So he
and his family – excluding one of his sisters – converted to Islam. But
it was not an instantaneous decision – it took them whole 10 years to
come to that decision.
The meeting with Pir was, for Dileep, an inner awakening and
cleansing. He started feeling, that it is not about being Hindu or being
Muslim or anything, but there is this one feeling and that is God – The
Almighty.
Both his father and mother were strong believers in Astrology. His
mother took him along once to an astrologer called Ulaganathan, in
Chennai, to get the horoscope for her second daughter Bala.
She asked the astrologer to suggest an Islamic name
for Dileep. The astrologer immediately suggested ‘Abdul Rahman’ and also
asked him to shorten it to AR Rahman. When his mother asked the
astrologer why the other initial ‘R’, the astrologer replied “Give him a
name with those two initials and mark my words, he will grow up to be a
great man”. His mother did accordingly.This happened around when the
production of the cassettes of ‘Roja’ was going on. The producers had
decided to credit the composer as Dileep on the inlay cards of cassettes
of the film. Dileep’s mother immediately approached director
Manirathnam, and placed this unusual condition – to credit Dileep with a
Muslim name. The new name of the 25-year old composer was: A R Rahman!
And the rest, as they say, is history!
The initials A and R later became ‘Allah Rakha’ on the suggestion of
renowned Hindi music composer Naushad Ali. Thus A Sekhar Dileep Kumar
became Allah Rakha Rahman. This was around 1988.
He says, “Family problems and the need for peace of mind made us
change the faith. Sufism has given me peace. As Dileep I had an
inferiority complex. As AR Rahman I feel like I have been born again.”
Rahman adds: “I am whatever because of my parent’s
prayers to God. I am whatever I am – because the prayers I pray
conscientiously, sincerely and with full faith. I will be whatever I am –
only because of Him, I know it. He has given me everything. He can take
everything away and I accept His decision without any questions,
without a murmur. He is everything to me. I am just an infinitesimal
creation of His. He has created me for a specific mission. I will be
committing a sin if I don’t fulfill that mission. That’s my only belief.
That’s the only thing that matters to me. I don’t care for all the
other temptations of the world. I am born for music. I live for music. I
will live for music till the very end. My life and death are in His
hands. I will live only till He wants me to live. I will die only when
He wants me to die. It’s all God’s will… Insha Allah.!”Religion is a
very personal affair for this sober young man from Chennai. He prays
five times a day, carrying his prayer mat with him on his tours, and
retiring to the prayer room he has had built next to his studio during
recording. He says, “It’s like a meditation. Each time I pray, I die, my
soul departs, and then I am like born again.”
THE ENTRY
Dileep was quite happy in his world of advertisements.
He had no intention of joining the film industry as a music
composer.Around 1991, ace Tamil movie director Manirathnam was on the
lookout for a new music composer for his films. His long-standing,
fruitful association with the doyen of Tamil film music Ilaiyaraja had
come to an end when the latter reportedly made some disdainful comments
during the making of Manirathnam’s ‘Dhalapathi’.
One day, at an awards function for excellence in the field of
advertising, Manirathnam chanced upon Dileep, who received the award for
the best ad jingle, which he had composed for the popular Leo Coffee
ad.
At the celebrations party that followed the awards presentation
ceremony, Manirathnam was introduced to the young composer by his cousin
Sharada Trilok of Trish Productions. Rahman had produced some
outstanding work for Trish Productions.
She (Sharada Trilok) had words of praise for the young composer.
Manirathnam got curious and requested him for a sample of his wares. The
composer readily complied and invited the director over to his studio.
Manirathnam turned up at the studio only after 3
months, where the 24-year-old lad played out a tune that he had been
pushed into composing by his school friend G. Bharat Bala alias Bala
when they both had been greatly disturbed by the socio-political
tensions in South India over the Cauvery river waters issue.Listening to
the tune that was played, Manirathnam was hooked instantly. Dileep
effortlessly ‘qualified’ in Manirathnam’s eyes as ‘deserving’, and thus,
when the appropriate opportunity came along, he decided to give him a
‘break’.
Without a second thought he signed on the composer to score the music
for his next venture, produced by the veteran Tamil director K
Balachander for his respected ‘Kavithalayaa’ banner. The film was
‘Roja’. That tune took the avatar of the song ‘Thamizha Thamizha’ in
‘Roja’.
Rahman’s D-Day arrived when ‘Roja’ was released on Saturday, August
15th, 1992 . It was awaited with curiosity since it was Manirathnam’s
first film without Ilaiyaraja. Skeptics doubted the ability of a 25-year
old debutant. The entire film world and filmgoers were in for a
pleasant surprise. Rahman delivered the goods and how? To call the music
just a ‘Super Hit’ would be an understatement. The music of the film
became a phenomenal success and revolutionized modern day Indian film
music.
Rahman became a household name in Tamil Nadu
overnight. ‘Roja’ won every conceivable award in music that year. Rahman
even got the ‘Rajat Kamal’ for best Music Director at the National Film
Awards, the first time ever by a debutante. Every producer was trying
to impress upon Rahman to work for his/her projects. Because of all
this, Rahman decided to leave the jingles world and concentrate on film
music.Throughout India , Rahman’s other work were also received
wholeheartedly by music lovers. However, it was a Ram Gopal Varma’s
‘Rangeela’ – Rahman’s first original Hindi score – which truly
established him as one of the prominent music composers of Bollywood. In
North India too, Rahman became a ’star’ overnight, and as is the
tradition in Bollywood, suddenly all kinds of producers were seen
queuing outside his house.
Rahman however, wisely chose to stay selective and took on only
projects that interested him. He also made it a point to work entirely
on his own terms and conditions. He still works only from Chennai where
he lives; has his own studio in his house from where he works; likes to
work only at nights.
Since ‘Roja’, he has created music for mega blockbuster films
including ‘Pudhiya Mugam’, ‘Gentleman’, ‘Kizhakku Cheemaiyilae’, ‘Duet’,
‘Kadhalan’, ‘Bombay’, ‘May Madham’, ‘Indian’, ‘Muthu’, ‘Kadhal Desam’,
‘Love Birds’, ‘Sapney’, ‘Jeans’, ‘Dil Se..’, ‘Kadhalar Dhinam’,
‘Sangamam’, ‘En Swasa Katrae’ and many others.
His 1995 soundtrack for ‘ Bombay ‘ crossed 5 million units and Rahman
had arrived as the ‘King of Indian Music’ with sales of more than 50
million albums over a period of 3 years. The success continued with
films like ‘Dil Se…’ with Manirathnam, and ‘ Taal ‘ with Subhash Ghai.
After working in many movies of the typical popular genre, several
offbeat reputed directors and producers like Govind Nihalani, Shyam
Benegal, Deepa Mehta have worked with Rahman in movies like ‘Thakshak’,
‘Zubeidaa’, ‘Fire’, and ‘1947 Earth’.
AS A SINGER
Playback Singer
When the final re-recording of the song ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ of ‘Roja’
was being done in Rahman’s studio, director Manirathnam was present.
When he heard a boatman humming ‘Yelelo Yelelo..’ in the second
interlude of the song, he asked for the person who sang it. Rahman told
him that it was his voice. Manirathnam noticed that the voice had the
zeal and passion, which was very different.
After the huge success of ‘Roja’, when Manirathnam signed on the
composer for their second combination ‘ Bombay ‘, he insisted that
Rahman sing at least one song. Thus was born Rahman the playback singer.
He sang ‘Andha Arabic Kadaloram’ aka ‘Humma Humma’ song in it. Same
story repeated for director Shankar, who also had liked the ‘Yelelo’
part in ‘Roja’ song. Shankar too insisted that Rahman should sing at
least one song for his film. Rahman did that job for their next
combination, ‘Kadhalan’. The song was ‘Oorvasi Oorvasi’, which instantly
became a huge hit throughout the world.
Rahman had lent his voice to his compositions earlier too but they
had been part of the chorus or bit pieces like ‘Oleywo Oleywola’ in
‘Mukkala Muqabala’ in ‘Kadhalan’ or background pieces in the film, and
of course, the interludes like ‘Yelelo’ in ‘Roja’. But ‘Humma Humma’ in ‘
Bombay ‘ was Rahman’s first complete and full-fledged song. With ‘Humma
Humma’, Rahman came to be regarded as much a playback singer as a
composer. His song ‘Musthafa Musthafa’ from ‘Kadhal Desam’ was another
hit that made Sony take notice of Rahman and ask him to sing the songs
for it’s non-film album ‘Vande Mataram’.
Rahman says, “I have always been forced to sing. It is
extra tiring to sing and get the words right. I sing only when forced
to, because singing is very different line of work. You need a lot of
Riyaaz and other things to be a good singer.”While he continued lending
his voice to several un-credited songs, his solos such as ‘Dil Se Re’
from ‘Dil Se..’ have made his fans crave for more songs from him. It has
become an amusing and common sight at various award functions to see
the compeers trying to cajole Rahman into singing on stage and Rahman
coming up with hilarious excuses to avoid the same.
Later it became quite a regular thing to have Rahman’s voice in his
own songs. For most of those Rahman was not credited in the film or the
audio release. Mainly he has sung songs in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English
and Urdu. With his soft soothing and to a certain extent guttural
vocals, he has created magic. It is noticed that when there is lots of
passion or pain or patriotism in his songs, the singer is Rahman
himself!
A PATRIOTIC MUSIC MAKER
It was 1996. Rahman was looking to come out of the
monotony that had set in after working on films, 4 years continuously
without a break. When he had started out as a composer in 1992, he
hadn’t thought of limiting himself to India alone but he also wanted to
find a foothold in the international market.While working on movies, he
had to do things according to the producers’ wishes. This limited the
creativity of the composer, and it was even harmful for the composer’s
independence growth.
Rahman has always liked doing film music, but at the same time he
felt composing for films would be very restrictive, and that he should
get out of the rut of film music. For long he had thought films were
enough but now he was waiting for the right occasion to do a non-film
private album.
In the same year, Rahman was in Mumbai attending the Screen awards
ceremony. In Mumbai, when he was in his hotel room, he called up his
childhood friend G Bharat alias Bharat Bala. Bala was Rahman’s school
friend, and had produced more than 100 jingles for which Rahman had
composed music five years earlier. Bala met him and discussed music.
Suddenly an idea struck and they decided to come up with an album with
the theme of commemorating 50 years of the Indian Independence in 1997.
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