25th February 2009
A 9 year old loses his father, drops out of school and begins working as a musician to feed his family. Few decades later, he becomes the modern day pied piper mesmerizing the world with his music and is anointed as the Emperor of music. This, my dear readers, is not a story line for an upcoming movie but the life summary a musical genius named Dileep Sekhar better known as AR Rahman.
A young man in 1992 began his career with a movie called ROJA. No one realized that his career would become the turning point for Indian film music and trumpet its potential to the entire world. In doing so, AR Rahman became the face of Indian music to the world.
AR Rahman's entry and subsequent success encouraged many to consider the music industry as a career. Before the Rahman era, (South) Indian film industry depended on a handful of playback singers. Songs of a film were sung by one male singer and one/two female singers. It was difficult to obtain entry or enjoy continued success as a singer. One reason might have been the possibility of benchmarking against the existing singers, who had attained legendary status. Music directors at that time were simply not willing to take the risk of entrusting their compositions to new singers fearing rejection from the audience who were accustomed to hearing a particular singer.
AR Rahman splintered this myth and scattered it to the winds. He was instrumental in breaking the "single-card" concept and brought many lesser known yet talented singers into main-stream. It is jocularly mentioned that if a well known singer was not available for a song, Rahman would look around his studio and give the song to a chorus or a track singer. This trend was followed by many contemporaries and future musicians, who introduced new talent into the industry. Rahman was one of the first musicians who insisted on including names of all his orchestra team on the inlay card.
AR Rahman brought revolution in music composition by mixing traditional instruments with latest electronics sounds and digital technology. His creative talent at composing tunes coupled with his tech savvy nature brought a new innovation in film music. His involvement with a project gave the producer an upper hand to dictate terms to the distributors. Music rights were bought for unheard amounts and audio sales touched mind boggling heights.
South Indian musicians never made it big in Bollywood. Even the nation's greatest music director Ilayaraja never became a force in Hindi despite being supremely blessed. AR Rahman first broke the imaginary barrier separating South Indian film industry and Bollywood by working for the biggest directors and stars of Bollywood. He later took Indian music beyond the confines of the country becoming a global ambassador of Indian music.
AR Rahman wrote music for Bombay Dreams and Lord of the rings musical. In the year 2003, he composed music for a Chinese film titled Warriors of Heaven and Earth, which won him applause for its rich background score. Some of his well known tunes were used for Hollywood movies as well. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard "chaiya chaiya" song as the title music for Denzel Washington's Inside Man.
An Oscar for an India was impending and for some strange reason, I always felt (and hoped) that it would come from music fraternity. I had my money on two Indians to bring home the Oscar namely Maestro Ilayaraja and AR Rahman. As an Indian, I feel proud and happy that Oscar is no longer a "sour grape" for us.
AR Rahman's life is inspirational to every individual and makes him an ideal candidate to be awarded the BHARATA RATNA. How of many of us can expect to fight back from the vulnerable position he found himself at his 9th year? His journey from such an abyss like situation to an Oscar win is true testament of an individual's will power and indomitable fighting spirit. Like many Indians, I too agree that Slumdog Millionaire is not AR Rahman's best work - personally, I don’t even think it would figure in his top 10 albums. Nevertheless, the applause and celebration is befitting for a man who has inspired a billion people with a remarkable accomplishment of achieving the once impossible.
Sreekanth Devarakonda
