Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman, whose birthday it is today, made a splash at the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 as he unveiled his directorial debut ‘Le Musk.’ It took Rahman five years to make this virtual-reality film. The story idea was pitched to him by his wife Saira Banu. He developed it into a 36-minute film about a girl who wants to find the men who orphaned her when she was young. And 20 years later, that girl aided by the singular memory of the scent of those men, sets out to find them.
“It’s a great honour. Le Musk is premiering at Cannes XR. It’s a project of love and we are all excited,” Rahman told ANI at Cannes.
Rahman also walked the red carpet as part of an Indian delegation led by I&B Minister Anurag Thakur. Grammy-winning composer Ricky Kej, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, and actors R Madhavan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tamannaah Bhatia, and Pooja Hegde among others were part of the delegation. Rahman was also seen sharing stages with various celebrities at Cannes.
Rahman has also revealed that he’s already working on his next VR film titled Confessions.
A street named after him in Canada
The maestro received an honour from the City of Markham in the country after they named a street after him. After being bestowed with the honour, AR Rahman took to his Twitter handle to express his gratitude. “I never imagined this in my life. I am very grateful to all of you, the Mayor of Markham, Canada (Frank Scarpitti), and counsellors, Indian Consulate General (Apoorva Srivastava) and the people of Canada.” Back in 2013, he had shared a picture of himself holding a board which read, ‘Allah Rakha Rahman st.’
He further continued, “The name A.R. Rahman is not mine. It means merciful. The merciful is the quality of the common God we all have and one can only be the servant of merciful. So, let that name bring peace, prosperity, happiness and health to all people living in Canada. God bless you all. I want to thank my brothers and sisters of India for all the love. All the creative people who worked with me, gave me the inspiration to rise up and celebrate hundred years of cinema; with all the legends included. I am a very small drop in the ocean.”
“I feel like this gives me immense responsibility to do much more and be inspiring; not to get tired and not to retire…yet. Even if I get tired I will remember that I have more things to do, more people to connect, more bridges to cross.”
Awards
AR Rahman’s long list of awards includes six National Awards and several Filmfare Awards from across Bollywood and the South film industry. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2000 and Padma Bhushan in 2010 for his contribution to Indian music and cinema. AR Rahman’s Grammy wins were two more trophies added to his awards legacy, headlined by the Academy Awards – he won two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire in 2009.
Background
- His full name is Allah Rakha Rahman and his original name is A.S. Dileep Kumar.
- He was born on January 6, 1966, in Madras, now Chennai
- He has been nicknamed the Mozart of Madras.
- Rahman’s father, R.K. Sekhar, was a prominent Tamil musician who composed scores for the Malayalam film industry
- Rahman began studying piano at age four.
- Rahman’s father died when he was 9 years old, and by age 11 he was playing the piano professionally to help support his family.
- He dropped out of school, but his professional experience led to a scholarship to study at Trinity College, Oxford, where he received a degree in Western classical music.
