A.R. Rahman Birthday: How a name change reshaped the maestro’s destiny

Allah Rakha Rahman, commonly known as A. R. Rahman (ARR), is a renowned Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist. He is known primarily for his work in Tamil and Hindi cinema, as well as international films.

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Award

Rahman has received six National Film Awards, two Oscars, two Grammy Awards, one BAFTA Award, one Golden Globe Award, six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, fifteen Filmfare Awards, and eighteen Filmfare South Awards. In 2010, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian honour.

Debut with the film Roja

With his in-house studio, Panchathan Records Inn, Rahman began his film music career in the early 1990s with the Tamil film "Roja." He subsequently composed music for several acclaimed Tamil films, including "Bombay," "Kadhalan," "Thiruda Thiruda," and Shankar's debut film, "Gentleman." His Hollywood debut, "Couples Retreat" (2009), earned him a BMI Award. His music for "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) earned him Oscar nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Jai Ho"). He also won Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2010 Grammy Awards. Rahman is fondly referred to as "Isai Puyal" (Storm of Music) and the "Mozart of Madras."

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His name has also been in Time magazine. 

In addition to music, Rahman is also a prominent philanthropist. He has raised funds and donated to numerous social causes and charities. In 2006, he was honored by Stanford University for his contributions to global music. In 2008, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rotary Club of Madras. In 2009, Time magazine included him among the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2014, he received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music and an honorary doctorate from Aligarh Muslim University. In 2017, he also debuted as a director and writer with the film "Le Musk." In 2024, he was appointed Honorary President of Trinity Laban.

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Early life

Allah Rakha Rahman was born Dilip Kumar Rajagopal on January 6, 1967, in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu. His father, R. K. Shekhar, was a composer and conductor for Malayalam films. Rahman began learning piano at the age of four and began assisting his father by playing keyboards in his studio.

When Rahman was nine years old, his father passed away. The family's income came from renting out his musical equipment. His mother, Karima (born Kasturi), took care of the children. Rahman, while also studying, became the family's support system, leading to frequent absences from school and failure in exams. In an interview, he recounted a time when his mother was told to send him to beg instead of school.

He later studied at MCN School for a year and then enrolled at Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School, where his musical talent was discovered and he formed a band with his friends. He later decided to leave his studies and pursue music as his sole career. He joined bands like Roots and later formed a rock group called Nemesis Avenue. He mastered the keyboard, piano, synthesizer, harmonium, and guitar, but his greatest passion was the synthesizer, as it represented the "perfect marriage of music and technology."

Rahman received his early musical training from Master Dhanraj and began playing in the orchestra of Malayalam musician M. K. Arjunan at the age of 11. He subsequently worked with many legendary musicians, including M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja, Vijay Anand, Hamsalekha, and Raj-Koti. He also toured the world with artists such as Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, and L. Shankar, and received a scholarship from Trinity College of Music, London. In his early career, he did keyboard and synthesizer programming for several films, including the song "Kalaikalam" from the 1989 Malayalam film "Ramji Rao Speaking."

Conversion to Islam and name change

While studying in Madras, Rahman earned a diploma in Western classical music. In 1984, he was introduced to the Qadiri order during his younger sister's serious illness. His mother was a devout Hindu at the time. In 1989, at the age of 23, Rahman, along with his family, converted to Islam.

Around this time, he also changed his name. In an interview, he stated that he never liked his birth name. According to his biography, AR Rahman: The Spirit of Music, a Hindu astrologer suggested the names "Abdul Rahman" and "Abdul Rahim," of which he immediately liked "Abdul Rahman." Later, his mother added "Allah Rakha" to his name after a dream, and thus he became known to the world as Allah Rakha Rahman (A.R. Rahman).

Personal life