TIME names A.R.Rahman among 100 Most Influential People in the World

TIME Magazine has named Oscar winning music maestro A.R.Rahman as one of the 100 most influential people in the world under the category of Artistes and Entertainers. The list is published in the May 11th edition of the magazine. A.R.Rahman will perform at a dinner hosted by President Obama for those named in the list later this week.

TIME magazine about Rahman

In India, a country of a billion inhabitants, where film and pop music are one, A.R. Rahman, 43, dominates the music industry so totally that he has supplied the sound track for a whole generation. He enjoys the godlike devotion of India’s youth, but everyone from the street child who sweeps train platforms to the middle-aged doctor in Mumbai’s posh Malabar Hill hums his tunes.

Born in Chennai (formerly Madras) and raised on Tamil movies and music, Rahman converted to Sufism — a mystical form of Islam — in the late 1980s. It is easy to hear these influences in his work, but his genius lies in tying many forms of music together to make a sound that is at once familiar and new. He first gained widespread notice for Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Roja (1992), then branched out into Hindi films and has succeeded in making Indian film music a global phenomenon. He has worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber and with Shekhar Kapur on Elizabeth and has influenced other gifted directors like Baz Luhrmann. This year he won two Oscars, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for giving Slumdog Millionaire its frenetic sound.

Rahman is a shy and quiet man, but his music has emotional force. Renowned for his immense range, he’ll do a traditional score for a conventional film, then blend exotic vocals with Japanese music and Western classical arrangements in his next project. A veritable Pied Piper, he has no competition, yet he makes it a priority to discover new talent and promote it. He has shaped modern India’s music for more than a decade. Now the “Mozart of Madras” has the world’s foot tapping along with him.

FULL list  The World’s Most Influential People

AR Rahman Interview with Telegraph

Experts from AR Rahman interview with British newsaper Telegraph

Only two Indians have ever won an Oscar costume designer Bhanu Athaiya for Gandhi (1982) and arthouse director Satyajit Ray who received a lifetime achievement award in 1992. However, with three Academy Award nominations this year for Slumdog Millionaire one for overall score and for two songs Chennai-based composer A R Rahman looks likely to be the third. He’s also up for the Best Music award at Sunday night’s Baftas.

“We’ve been waiting for this for 80 years,” said Rahman recently in The Hindu, the Indian daily newspaper. “I think it will create a bridge between Western and Indian audiences, and lead to more people exploring Indian music.”

Rahman’s first breakthrough tune Chinna Chinna Aasai, in the 1992 film Roja was a song of a poor man dreaming of riches. Rahman’s family had struggled after his father. His father’s eclectic tastes was inherited by his son, who formed a rock band in his teens and studied Western classical music (at Trinity College in London) and Indian classical music.

“Compared with other Indian film composers, I only write about six movies a year. Others write up to 60,” he tells me in the unlikely setting of his house in Tufnell Park, where he lives when he is in London.

He’s already the first Indian national to pick up a Golden Globe (for Slumdog), and says: “I hope we get at least one [Oscar]. I cannot wait for the announcement.”

[ Interview with AR Rahman, the composer behind the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack ]

Slumdog Millionaire Stunning 10 Oscar nominations

The film Slumdog Millionaire has got 10 Oscar nominations, while AR Rahman 3 nominations. The Oscars will be handed out in Hollywood on February 22.

List of Slumdog Millionaire’s 10 Oscar nominations

1. Cinematography
2. Directing (Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan)
3. Editing
4. Music (Score) (A.R.Rahman)
5. Music (Song) – Jai Ho (A.R.Rahman)
6. Music (Song) – O Saya (A.R.Rahman)
7. Best Picture
8. Sound Editing
9. Sound Mixing
10. Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

AR Rahman Wins Best Composer for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

AR Rahman won the Best Music Composer award for the Hollywood movie Slumdog Millionaire at the 14th annual Critics” Choice awards in America. Slumdog Millionaire won five top prizes including Best Picture of 2008.

Singer Katy Perry presents composer A.R. Rahman the Best Composer award

Slumdog Millionaire is a Hollywood movie about a Mumbai orphan on Who Wants to be a Millionaire has won 5 US Critics choice Awards at the 14th annual Critics Choice awards in America.

The event was held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 8 by the Broadcast Film Critics Association,

Slumdog Millionaire Won 5 awards at Critics Choice Awards

• Best Picture
• Best Composer (AR Rahman)
• Best Director
• Best Writer
• Best Young Actor / Actress (Dev Patel)

The Critics’ Choice Awards have been a strong indicator for the Oscar awards, 70 % of its Critics’ Choice Awards winners also going on to win at the Academy Awards.

[ Photo Credit : Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North America via zimbio ]

A.R. Rahman to Host The Big Band Show For Doordarshan

India’s noted music composer A. R. Rahman will host India?s biggest music based reality show The Big Band in Doordarshan. The show is produced by Phat Phish, an integrated entertainment and communications company.

A R Rahman will traverse the journey across 15 Indian cities through his eyes. Beginning in the first week of December, the show will be aired in the prime time slot. This show will be the hunt for the biggest music band. Apart from India, it will also go to Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, for a three-year recording contract with Phat Phish Records.

The winner band will be awarded a 3 year recording contract with Phat Phish Records, as well as cash prize worth Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million). This will include end-to-end artist management, three albums and six music videos, tours and concerts across the world and mentoring from leading musicians.

The last date for receipt of applications from aspiring contestants is November 15, 2008.

Kamal’s Marmayogi Shooting Starts on Sep 25th

Kamal Haasan’s magnum opus Marmayogi shooting is scheduled to begin on September 25th. Kamal is both scripting and directing the movie in which he plays the protagonist, which will have its musical score by A.R.Rahman.

As we reported earlier, this movie is said to have two other heroines, with former miss Chennai Trisha and Rajini’s favorite Shriya playing lead heroines, while Bollywood actress Hemamalini plays a negative role in the movie.

Marmayogi is said to be shot in the backdrop of the seventh century. The shooting will began at Sedhusamudhram Falls. Marmayogi is being Co-produced by Pyramid Saimira and Rajkamal International.