Celebrate AR Rahman’s 59th birthday with lesser-known facts about the Oscar-winning composer. From the iconic Airtel tune to a street named after him in Canada, discover stories about his life, music, and son Ameen.
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AR Rahman, whose voice echoes across the world with songs like ‘Jai Ho’ making India proud at Oscar, is celebrating his 59th birthday on January 6. Here are some unknown facts about the world renowned music maestro.
AR Rahman’s son Allah Rakha Ameen is a young playback singer. He began his career by singing alongside his father. He now performs in concerts globally, following his father’s footsteps. The younger Rahman was born on 6 January 2003. And, both father and son celebrate their birthdays on the same day.
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‘Jai Ho’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was originally composed for Salman Khan‘s film ‘Yuvraj’. The film released in 2008 starring Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Zaid Khan and Anil Kapoor. But director Subhash Ghai felt it didn’t fit the movie and rejected the song. Later Rahman offered the same to Danny Boyle for ‘Slumdog millionaire’, and like they say, rest is history.
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‘Jai Ho’ is one of the most widely popular songs that has come out of India.
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Airtel signature tune composed by AR Rahman came out in 2002. Since then the tune has become most popular tune in India and worldwide. The music was simple but it etched in everyone’s memories so swiftly that you recognise it when you hear it.
Also, fun fact: due to its popularity, the Airtel tune become one of the most downloaded music pieces in the world with about on 150 million downloads.
The street located in Robinson Glen community, north-east of Kennedy Road, Markham, Canada is named in the honour of music director AR Rahman.
The street was named so on August 27, 2022. The composer expressed his gratitude through social media post and thanked God for all the recognition he continues to receive.
Rahman was nine years old when his father passed away. Then he started playing piano professionally to help his family financially. This led him to miss his classes more often which led him failing his exams.
Due to poor condition of his family, he had to drop out from the school in class 11. He was just 15 then. Despite not completing his standard schooling, Rahman received a scholarship to the Trinity College of Music in London, where he graduated with a diploma in Western classical music. He also received several prestigious honours, including an honorary doctorate from renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston.
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