A. R. Rahman is a prolific Indian musician, born on January 6, 1966, in Madras. Rahman’s father, R. K. Shekhar, was a composer for Tamil and Malayalam films who died when A. R. was nine. Rahman was then raised by his mother, and he eventually converted to Islam, his mother’s faith. Rahman founded a rock group in Chennai called ‘Nemesis Avenue’, and learned different instruments such as piano, synthesizer, harmonium, and guitar. Later he worked with accomplished composers and won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music, and founded his own music studio, Panchathan Record Inn. At first, he worked composing scores for television and advertisements. In 1992, Rahman composed the score and soundtrack for ‘Roja’, a Tamil film. He received a Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) for Best Music Director at the National Film Awards. The score is included in Time magazine’s “10 Best Soundtracks” of all time. He made his Hindi film debut in 2005, in the Ram Gopal Varma’s film ‘Rangeela’. In 2008, Rahman scored ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and becoming the first Asian to win two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. In Bollywood, he has won Filmfare Awards for Best Background Score in: ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ (2003), ‘Swades’ (2005), ‘Guru’ (2008), ‘Jodha Akbar’ (2009), and ‘Mom’ (2018). Rahman has won Filmfare Best Music Director in films such as: ‘Dil Se…’ (1999), ‘Taal’ (2000), ‘Lagaan’ (2002), ‘Rang de Basanti’ (2007), ’Delhi 6’ (2010), ‘Rockstar’ (2012), and ‘Tamasha’ (2016). In 2019 alone, he has the score for these movies: ‘The Fakir of Venice’ (Hindi), ‘Blinded by the Light’ (English), Sarvam Thaala Mayam’ (Telugu), and ‘Bigil’ (Tamil). He has recently worked on ’99 Songs’, ‘Mimi”, and Ponniyin Selvan: 1 and 2 (2022/23). Rahman regularly tours the world giving concerts. The list of his awards in Tamil Nadu and internationally is too great to list here. Among them is the Padma Bhushan from the government of India awarded in 2010, six National Film Awards, two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, fifteen Filmfare Awards, and seventeen Filmfare Awards South. Gifted in several styles of music and with a love of experimentation, Rahman’s compositions fuse past and present together in unique ways. He has earned the nickname “The Mozart of Madras”.