A.R. Rahman has made India proud with his musical prowess and countless achievements. But did you know how this Oscar-winning legendary musician actually mustered courage and motivated himself after his father’s demise, to reach where he is today? Let’s find out!
A.R. Rahman was born into a musical Tamil family and named originally as AS Dilip Kumar. His father R K Shekar was a music composer of Tamil and Malayalam songs and quite popular in the 60s and 70s era. Rahman used to like accompanying his father and learning how to play keyboard. He started his musical training at the tender age of 4 and used to accompany his father to the studios until his demise, when Rahman was just 9 years old.
After his father’s demise, the family had to rent out his musical instruments to earn money and faced several hardships, and it was then that Rahman converted into Islam. He had to support his mother and siblings, emotionally and financially.
Young Rahman started off as a part-time keyboard player with the famous percussionist Shivmani and went on to world tours with musicians like Zakir Hussain. He also learned western music from Trinity College. This musical genius slowly craved his place in the industry & worldwide with hits like ‘Jay Ho’ from Slumdog Millionaire for which he won Grammy awards.
With two Grammy awards, two Academy awards, fifteen Filmfare awards and many more to his candor, A. R. Rahman has proved himself as the supremely talented self-made man that he is now. In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian award by the Government of India, for his contribution to the field of music.
He has always listened to his heart and put in hard word to have been able to achieve and accomplish the unimaginable.