A. R. Rahman

Some Lesser Known Facts About A. R. Rahman

• Does A. R. Rahman smoke?: No

• Does A. R. Rahman alcohol?: No

• Rahman was known earlier known as A. S. Dileep Kumar before he converted from Hinduism to Islam.

• He had a difficult childhood as his father died when he was 9 years old, leaving him as the sole earning source of his family. Initially, he used to play his father’s keyboard to earn money.

  

• He scored 62% in his board exams.

• He aspired to be a computer engineer.

• In an interview, he revealed that he didn’t attend college and loved to spend time with people in their 40s and 50s.

• Following the footsteps of his father, he incepted his early training in music from Master Dhanraj.

• His first salary was 50 (INR) for operating a record player.

• From 1984-88, he was part of the band called Roots”. During this period, he also played keyboard for 10 – 12 Kannada films.

  

• Later, he became part of a rock band called “Nemesis Avenue”, where he worked as producer-arranger and also performed for a concert ‘Jive live’.

  

• In 1987, he started composing short songs for ad commercials, first among them was Alwyn’s new trendy range of watches. And, in the span of 5 years, he composed around 300 of them.

• In 1989, he and his family converted to Islam from Hinduism after his sister felt magical relief out of her severe illness from the blessings of a Pir Qadri called Sheik Abdul Qadir Jeelani.

• In 1991, he met a producer, Sharada Trilok, who introduced him to her cousin, Mani Ratnam who got so much impressed with his performance, that he gave him a breakthrough in the film Roja (1992). In 2005, the same song was listed among TIME’s “10 Best Soundtracks” of all time.

• Very few people know that the first film for which he composed music was Mohanlal starrer Yodha (1992), a Malayalam film.

• By 2004, he was among the world’s all-time top-selling recording artists, as till then, he sold almost 200 million cassettes and 150 million recordings of his soundtracks.

• Though he loves to compose music of all genders, but romantic is his favorite.

• In 2008, he founded KM College of Music and Technology in Chennai, which was inaugurated by Mukesh Ambani.

  

• His Oscar Award-winning song “Jai Ho” was initially composed for the Bollywood film Yuvvraaj (2008), but it later became a part of Slumdog Millionaire (2008).

• In 2012, he had received a Christmas card and a dinner invitation from Barack Obama, the then President of the United States at the White House.

• He shares his birthday (6 January) with his son, Ameen.

• He is a global ambassador of the WHO’s “Stop TB Partnership” and also supports “Save the Child” in India.

• In 2013, a street was named in his honour in Markham, Ontario, Canada.

  

• Unlike other musicians, he likes composing music at night.

• His favourite raaga is ‘Sindhu Bhairavi’.

• Along with filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor, he has launched a social media platform called “Qyuki”, to showcase the raw talent in India.

  

• On 20 January 2017, he along with members of the Nadigar Sangam observed a one-day fast to support the people of Tamil Nadu protesting against the ban on Jallikattu ( a bull-taming event).

  

• In January 2018, he became the first-ever brand ambassador of Sikkim.

  

• In August 2022, a street was named after A. R. Rahman in the city of Markham in Canada. In 2013, it was announced that a street will be named after him in the city. Following this honour, Rahman penned a note of gratitude to the authorities of Markham in Ontario, Canada on Twitter. ^[3]NDTV He wrote,
  

  I feel like this gives me immense responsibility to do much more and be inspiring, not so get tired and not to retire yet. Even if I get tired I’ll remember that I have more things to do, more people to connect, more bridges to cross.”

  

• On 10 September 2023, A. R. Rahman performed at Adityaram Palace City in Chennai. The concert, however, turned out to be chaos as the post-event reports highlighted some mismanagement and disorder. After the event, attendees voiced their grievances about the event, citing issues such as traffic congestion near the venue and the disappointment of VIP ticket holders who had paid Rs. 50,000 but received no special treatment. Moreover, several women, through social media, alleged experiencing harassment within the crowd, though police officials later clarified that no formal complaints had been filed. In an interview, Rahman addressed these concerns and emphasised the urgent need for Chennai to upgrade its infrastructure to world-class standards, boost tourism, and enhance crowd and traffic management. In the interview, Rahman further disclosed that there were 46,000 chairs available at the venue, but the uneven seating distribution led on-duty police to mistakenly assume full capacity as a result of which they closed the venue. A. R. Rahman later took to social media through which he promised to refund the ticket costs for those who missed out on the concert.

  

• According to the playback singer Suresh Wadkar, he and A. R. Rahman once had a disagreement. While talking about this, in an interview, Wadkar mentioned that their working styles didn’t align well. Wadkar added that despite singing about two songs for Rahman, there was no communication or further collaboration between them. ^[4]The Indian Express

• In May 2024, he revealed in an interview that his mother sold her jewellery to buy the first equipment for his music studio.