Music of my life

Music, mainly Indian music has played a major role throughout my life. Needless to say, I have only one person to thank for the inclusion of music in my life...A.R.Rahman! A.R.Rahman needs no introduction. Nevertheless, I would still take the privilege to talk about him and how his music changed my life.

Born as Dileep Kumar, A.R.Rahman (ARR to most) began his career by playing keyboard for many renowned music directors. He then went on to compose ad jiggles before venturing into the Indian Film music as a composer in 1992 for the film, Roja.

A.R.Rahman during his early days as a Music Director

Roja must have been very special to ARR in a lot of manner. It was his first film as a film music composer after a stupendous career as an ad jiggles composer. In addition, the film was directed by Maniratnam, a genius in film making and produced under the banner of Kavithalaya, owned by K. Balachander (a renowned film director who gave path-breaking films in 70's and 80's). Moreover, this was also the first time Maniratnam collaborated with a different (and a fresh one at that) after his own successful collaborations with India's finest music director, Ilayaraja.

In fact, rumor has it that ace director Maniratnam had a tiff with composer Ilayaraja during their last venture, Thalapathy. Ironically, when Thalapathy was released in 1991, the soundtracks of the film went on to grab many accolades and praises and set the cash register ringing. Nevertheless, by then the tiff had left too much of water under the bridge and Maniratnam set out to find a new composer for his next venture. It was at this point of time that he got to know A.R.Rahman and on hearing some of ARR's compositions, Maniratnam was so amazed by the latter's talents and quickly signed him up for his dream project, Roja and the rest they say, is history!

The year was 1992. Roja was released amidst huge expectations and publicity. I was 9 years old back then...a school student who knew nothing about music let alone Indian music industry (the latter, for some reason failed to strike a chord in me). Nevertheless, when Roja was released, I went on to watch it in the theatre with my family members. The beginning scenes of the terrorist being chased and captured by the Indian army was a little too blur for my naive mind...so much so that I failed to notice the exciting BGM that followed the scenes. In fact, back then BGM was as vague a word to me as the whole scenes put together.

Then, the enticing music began to come. The whole screen seems to have come alive with the scene of sun-rise and the music that followed...Chinna Chinna Aasai was born. Even hearing it today would bring back many beautiful memories to me. The sound was so refreshing and energizing. It is undoubtedly the best introduction song for a heroine.

Roja fetched Rahman his first National Award. Not surprisingly, he set the history by becoming the first person to be awarded the National Award for his debut work. More movies came along after Roja. Most were memorable, many were magical and some were just too great to be described in words. (I would definitely write about some of his works in my next post).

Today, ARR is a global icon, having won the double Oscars for his stupendous work in Slumdog Millionaire (SdM) and is on the run for the Grammys later this month, while Jai Ho, the outstanding number from SdM has become a world anthem now.

Needless to say, I'm truly proud of the success he so deserved. May many more awards and success crown him with glory. To the rest of the world, he might be the global icon, the musical storm or the Mozart of Madras...but to me, he was the man who taught me to love music, and thanks to him, his is the music of my life now and forever! Jai Ho Rahmanji!