A.R. Rahman The Musical Storm

With his Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA wins for Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman has become an international celebrity: they’re calling him ‘the Mozart of the East’. In India, however, Rahman has been an iconic superstar for seventeen long years, ever since his first film Roja. Over the past two decades, he has produced unforgettable music for movies like Kadhalan, Bombay, Rangeela, Dil Se, Taal, Alaipayuthey, Zubeidaa, Lagaan, Rang De Basanti and Jodhaa Akbar, to name only a few, in addition to the stage musical Bombay Dreams and his acclaimed non-film album Vande Mataram.claim to know the man behind the music. Rahman shies away from the public eye. He is fiercely protective of his privacy, and prefers to be known only through his music. ‘discovery’ by Mani Ratnam and his subsequent ascent to fame; his abiding popularity in the new millennium and his constant endeavour to break new ground. It also takes us straight into Rahman’s inimitable world: the composing and recording sessions that run through the night; his compulsive need to ‘get it right’, which can cause directors to wait months for a song; his continuing fascination with electronic equipment; his relationship with his mother, his inspiration; and above all his religiosity, which is at the root of his being and his music.