*2003-2004*: The Rahman Hindi bandwagon hits a lull with dull scores like Tehzeeb, Meenakshi - A Tale Of Three Cities and Lakeer.
Meenakshi, dull score?? On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 8:02 PM, Moin Ul Haque <moinulha...@gmail.com>wrote: > Not sure if this is posted earlier. Old article after the Golden globe > win. ---------------------------------------------------From Rukmani to > Jai ho > > *Allah Rakha Rahman’s* journey is no less incredible than that of the > protagonist of Slumdog Millionaire. From a South Indian regional composer > with a National award for his debut film 16 years back, Rahman has now won > three nominations at the Oscars for his songs in a mainstream Hollywood film > > > *1966:* On January 6, A.S.Dileep Kumar is born to R.K.Shekhar, > composer-arranger in Malayalam films. His father passes away when Dileep is > just nine. The family subsists on hiring out musical equipment to leading > composers. > > *1977:* Rahman joins Ilayaraja as keyboardist after training with Master > Dhanraj. He also plays for M. S. Viswanathan and Ramesh Naidu and with Zakir > Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and soon > obtains a scholarship from the Trinity College of Music in London, where he > graduates with a degree in Western Classical music. > > *1989:* The family converts to Islam and the boy is renamed Allah Rakha > Rahman. Rahman becomes a keyboard player and arranger in the band Roots with > childhood friend A.Sivamani. He is the founder of the rock band Nemesis > Avenue and also plays keyboard, piano, the synthesizer, harmonium and > guitar. > > *1991:* Rahman starts a recording studio in his house and starts composing > for jingles and television serials. > > *1992:* Mani Ratnam, who has been watching Ilayaraja’s assistant, gives > him an independent break with Roja, the original Tamil film. A new style of > music is introduced and in a first-time feat later equalled only by Ismail > Darbar with the Hindi film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, bags the National Award > for a debut score, the first of four. > > *1993:* Roja is dubbed in Hindi and as it sweeps the charts, led by Dil > hai chhota sa and the “item” song Rukmani Rukmani, Roja also brings into > focus the hitherto-neglected talent of singer Hariharan, who is suddenly > considered chart-friendly! With this score, Rahman forever changes the > future of Hindi film music. > His Tamil chartbuster that year is Thiruda Thiruda. > > *1994-1995:* Two films of Rahman are dubbed in Hindi - his hit Kaadhalan > as Humse Hai Muqabala and Bombay. More importantly, several music directors > officially (The Gentleman) and otherwise (Angrakshak, Sabse Bada Khiladi et > al) pilfer his Tamil hits. > Duet, Indira and Muthu are his Tamil hits that year. And Rahman gets his > first international honour - the Mauritius National award in 1995. > In late 1995, Rahman writes history all over again with his debut original > Hindi film, Rangeela. Asha Bhosle returns to high-tide with Yai re and Tanha > tanha after a lull. > > *1996:* More of Rahman’s films are dubbed, with indifferent results except > for Hindustani (Indian). > But the Tamil scenario is still upbeat with Love Birds and Kadhal Desam. > Rahman also scores the background music for his first crossover film Fire. > And Minsaara Kanavu wins Rahman his second National award. > > *1997:* Sapnay, the dubbed version of the 1996 hit marks the debut of > singer KK with Strawberry aankhen, a top name today, and the breakthrough of > Hema Sardesai with Awara bhanwre. It begins his long association with Javed > Akhtar. > Sony Music (now Sony-BMG) signs Rahman as their first-ever South Asian > artiste for the hit album Vande Mataram. > The Tamil hits include Iruvar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s debut. > > *1998:* The composer storms the charts with Mani Ratnam’s first original > Hindi film, Dil Se…, ending the struggle of singer Sukhwinder Singh with > Chal chhaiyya chhaiyya, and the singer’s association with him will now peak > with the Oscar nomination for Jai ho from Slumdog Millionaire. The same is > true of his journey with Gulzar, whose best phase as a top lyricist begins. > The film also features his first song with Lata Mangeshkar, Jiya jale. Also > released this year is Jeans. > > *1999:* Rahman finally makes a proper pan-Indian breakthrough with Subhash > Ghai’s Taal, a musical love story that wins him his first Screen award. In > the same year, Deepa Mehta’s Earth is released in Hindi as 1947 with a > highly-appreciated, underrated but not-too-popular score. These two films > cement his association with Ghai and Anand Bakshi (till his death in 2002), > Javed Akhtar and Aamir Khan. > He also tours Germany with Michael Jackson in the Michael Jackson & Friends > Concert. > > *2000:* Rahman scores his first home production of a Mumbai hero - Anil > Kapoor, in Pukar. This is also the first of his only two films with Phalke > laureate lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri. > The Tamil side is noted for Kandukondain Kandukondain and Thenali. > > *2001:* Lagaan, Aamir Khan’s first film, wins him the National Best Music > award for the first time for a Hindi film. Careful observers term this his > most accomplished score in Hindi till then. > > *2002:* Saathiya makes the industry take note of Kunal Ganjawala with O > humdum suniyo re. There is also an evocative score in The Legend Of Bhagat > Singh. > Back home in the South, Rahman scores with Kannathil Mutthamittal and Baba. > > > *2003-2004*: The Rahman Hindi bandwagon hits a lull with dull scores like > Tehzeeb, Meenakshi - A Tale Of Three Cities and Lakeer. But it ends on > another high with Swades. > Rahman get the rare honour of scoring for the Chinese film Warriors Of > Heaven And Earth and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage presentation Bombay Dreams. > He backs out of Indian commitments like Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa and Kisna > after recording a few songs. He also notches the highest tally among > National award-winning composers with Kannathil Muthamittal, his fourth > trophy. > With Finnish folk music band Värttinä, he scores music for The Lord Of The > Rings, a theatre production, and also composes the piece Raga’s Dance for > Vanessa Mae’s album Choreography. > The whizkid is also appointed Global Ambassador to the WHO initiative, Stop > TB Partnership. > > *2005:* Rahman fails to recreate the period magic of his two earlier films > with Mangal Pandey - The Rising and Netaji - The Forgotten Hero. But his two > songs in Kisna are noticed. And for every low the composer gets a > compensatory high: He inaugurates his state-of-the-art AM Studios in Chennai > and Time Magazine lists Roja among the Top 10 Movie soundtracks of all time. > > > *2006:* Rahman composes the heady Daler Mehndi-Chitra sarson-sambar > title-track for Rang De Basanti. Here begins another fruitful association - > with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and lyricist Prasoon Joshi. > Rahman also launches his own music label, KM Music, with his score for > Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. He also gets an Honorary award from Stanford University > for his contribution for global music. > > *2007:* On his 42nd anniversary, he inaugurates the K.M.Music > Conservatory. In a double whammy, Rahman grabs both Best Music and Best > Background Score trophies for Guru from Nokia Star-Screen. He also scores > the background music for Provoked and composes the third of Deepa Mehta’s > trilogies, Water. Rahman also co-composes Shekhar Kapoor’s Elizabeth: The > Golden Age. > The home front is represented by the all-time blockbuster Sivaji - The > Boss. > > *2008:* Jodhaa Akbar (for which he clinches another Screen trophy for > Background Score) and Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na (for which he gets Screen’s Best > Music Award) are highs enough, but that great times are coming is evident > from his tail-end 2008 release Ghajini becoming India’s all-time biggest > grosser. Slumdog Millionaire, his mainstream Hollywood film has won him a > Golden Globe Best Music nomination and hosannas galore abroad including 10 > other nominations and awards from various organisations for Best Score and > Best Song. > > *2009:* The incredible happens - in his birthday month, A.R.Rahman wins > the two Screen awards mentioned above, the Golden Globe for the score of > Slumdog… and Best Music and two Best Song nominations for Jai ho and also O > saya, for which he also co-writes lyrics. He is the first Indian to win > three Oscar nominations. The Oscar is now a possible - no, make that likely > - dream. > And the journey continues.. > > > -- > (¨`•.•´¨) Always > `•.¸(¨`•.•´¨) Keep > `•.¸¸.•´ Smiling! > > GOD BLESS YOU > With Love and Care Always > Moin.H > > -- > Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat > you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for > a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it > changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just > promised it would be worth it. > > >
