Biography Of A R Rahman

A R Rahman (Allah Rakha Rahman), born January 6, 1967 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is an Oscar Award winner Indian film composer, record producer, musician and singer. A. R. Rahman was born to a Tamil Hindu family. His father R. K. Shekhar, was a composer and conductor for Malayalam films.

Rahman lost his father when he was studying 9th standard in Padma Seshasdri School, and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. He converted to Islam from Hinduism in 1989 along with his sisters.







He is married to Saira Banu and has three children, Khadijah, Rahima and Aman. Rahman is the uncle of composer G. V. Prakash Kumar, who is the son of Rahman’s elder sister, A. R. Reihana.



n 1992, Rahman began his own music recording and mixing studio attached to the backyard of his house called the Panchathan Record Inn, which was developed into India’s most advanced recording studio. He initially composed music jingles for advertisements, Indian Television channels and music scores in documentaries, among other projects. In 1992, he first debuted by composing the score and soundtrack for the malayalam movie Yodha. Later, he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for Ratnam’s Tamil film Roja.



Rahman is the 1995 recipient of the Mauritius National Award and the Malaysian Award for contributions to music. He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his first West-End production. A four-time National Film Award winner and conferred the Padma Shri from the Government of India, Rahman has received six awards for Best Music at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and eleven awards for his scores at the Filmfare and Filmfare Awards South each. In 2006, he received an honorary award from Stanford University for contributions to global music. In 2009, for his score of Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman won the Critics’ Choice Award, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, and two Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song at the 2009 Oscars