Summary : A.R. Rahman The Musical Storm 1st Published |
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With his Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA wins for Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman has become an international celebrity: they're calling him 'The Mozart of the East': In India, however, Rahman has been an iconic superstar for seventeen long years, ever since his first Film Roja. Over the past two decades, he has produced unforgettable Music for movies like Kadhalan, Bombay, Rangeela, Dil Se, Taal, Alaipayuthey, Zubeidaa, Lagaan, Rang De Basanti and Jodhaa Akbar, to name only a few, in addition to the Stage Musical Bombay Dreams and his acclaimed non-film album Vande Mataram.
His name is legend, but what is A.R. Rahman all about? Very few can claim to know the man behind the music. Rahman shies away from the public eye. He is fiercely protective of his privacy and prefers to be known only through his music.
For the very first time, this Book tells A.R. Rahman's incredible story: the tragic Death of his Father R.K. Sekhar, a talented music arranger, when Rahman -- then Dileep - was nine; Dileep's desperate efforts as a teenager to keep the Family afloat by playing sessions, missing school; his reasons for embracing Islam and turning to Sufism; his 'discovery' by Mani Ratnam and his subsequent ascent to fame; his abiding popularity in the new Millennium and his constant endeavour to break new ground. It also takes us straight into Rahman's inimitable world: the composing and recording sessions that run through the night; his compulsive need to 'get it right', which can cause directors to wait months for a song; his continuing fascination with electronic equipment; his Relationship with his mother, his inspiration; and above all his religiosity, which is at the root of his being and his music.
Based on extensive interviews with Rahman, his family and those who have worked with him and know him best, this marvelously readable, chatty and anecdotal Biography will delight every fan of the man Chennai calls 'Isai Puyal'-the Musical Storm.
Kamini Mathai was born in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. She completed her graduation in English from Women's Christian college, Chennai and post-graduation in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Madras. She started her career in journalism as a features writer for the New Indian Express in 1998 where she continued to work for around ten years. She now works with the Times of India. She lives in Chennai with her husband Philip and son Adiv. This is her first book.
Author's Note
1. Oscars
2. Dileep
3. Roja
4. Breaking the Rules
5. The first Award
6. Bollywood Beginnings
7. Opening Doors
8. Under the Spotlight
9. Faith
10. The Wait
11. At Work
12. At Home
This is a biography of AR Rahman, the Bollywood music composer and singer, who was awarded the Oscar for Best Musical Score at the 81st Annual Academy Awards on February 2, 2009. To the world the Oscar victory was just a moment in history that will be a faint memory. But for AR Rahman it was a memorable moment for it was part of the journey undertaken by a boy born in a non-descript house, who never spoke and hardly ever smiled; who lost his father and his faith at the age of nine; who had to work day and night to a support his family; who had to drop out of school and give up some of his dreams along the way; a boy who once believed he was a failure but who later learnt to use his insecurities to spur him to great heights.
The renowned Bollywood film director Subhash Gahi sums up Rahman thus: “From rags to riches, from scrap to success, from ordinary to exhilarating, A.R. Rahman is the right story to be known, read, written, to be studied and finally to be followed.”
AR Rahman was born to Rajagopal Kulasekhar and Kasturi, two Hindus from the Vellalar community-not as AR Rahman as the world knows him but as Dileep Kumar on Mundakanni Amman Koil Street. They moved from here to Kodambakkam due to a dispute over the property. After Dileep’s father died, people lost all touch with this family as neither did they visit anyone or entertain anyone, nor did the people visit them. Rahman’s mother explains this attitude stating that she and her family had made a conscious decision to close themselves to their past as their Hindu relations had never come to terms with their conversion to Islam. She also admits that when she and her children embraced Islam, she felt her husband’s and her own families may object and so never kept in touch with them. “I didn’t know if they would object. Why visit to find out?” she asks.
When Dileep was five-years old, his father Sekhar realised his son was a natural when it came to music. As Sekhar used to compose music, his son would watch Sekhar’s musician friends discuss, compose and play tunes. Sekhar found that on more than one occasion, Dileep managed to replay the tunes perfectly. Dileep was later enrolled in Musee Musicals-a store for instruments and school of music. When Dileep was nine-years old, his father died of cancer. Being the eldest son, he had to give a shoulder to the bier and this he has not forgotten to this day. Dileep alias Rahman says, “Maybe if that did not happen, I would never have become a musician. Maybe my music would not have the melancholy in it that it has now-because that was what I had. It is melancholy that brings melody into your life.”
AR Rahman is a product of these times and a change agent himself. Today Rahman says, “It is not that I am not on a spiritual path right now and that I will pack up my music and leave. I will be here as long as I am needed. It depends on what plans God has for me. These things are unpredictable, so I have to keep floating around. You never know where the journey of life takes you. Will I give up on film music? God knows.”