A.R.RahmanTamil Lyricist – Song Lyrics & Movies

With his in-house studio Panchathan Record Inn, Rahman's film-scoring career began during the early 1990s with the Tamil film Roja. Following that, he went on to score several songs for Tamil language films, including Mani Ratnam's politically charged Bombay, the urban Kaadhalan, Thiruda Thiruda, and S. Shankar's debut film Gentleman. Rahman's score for his first Hollywood film, the comedy Couples Retreat (2009), won the BMI Award for Best Score. His music for Slumdog Millionaire (2008) earned him Best Original Score and Best Original Song (for Jai Ho) at the 81st Academy Awards. He was also awarded Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2010 Grammy Awards. He is nicknamed "Isai Puyal" (transl. Musical Storm) and "Mozart of Madras".

Rahman has also become a humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising money for a number of causes and charities. In 2006, he was honoured by Stanford University for his contributions to global music. In 2008, he received Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rotary Club of Madras. In 2009, he was included on the Time list of the world's 100 most influential people. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music. He has also received honorary doctorate from Aligarh Muslim University. In 2017, he made his debut as a director and writer for the film Le Musk. In 2024, Rahman was named Honorary President of Trinity Laban.

Allah Rakha Rahman was born Dileep Kumar in Madras, Tamil Nadu, on 6 January 1967. His father, R. K. Shekhar from a Vellalar family, was a film score composer and conductor for Malayalam films. Rahman began studying piano at age four. He assisted his father in the studio, playing the keyboard.

After his father's death when Rahman was nine years old, the rental of his father's musical equipment provided his family's income. Raised by his mother, Kareema (born Kashturi),

Rahman, who was studying in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan had to work to support his family, which led to him to routinely miss classes and fail exams. Rahman said that his mother was summoned and was told to take him to the streets of Kodambakkam to beg and not to send him to the school any more.

Rahman attended another school called MCN for a year, and later joined the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School, where he was admitted for his musical talent and formed a band with his high school classmates. However, after discussing it with his mother, he later dropped out of school to pursue a career as a full-time musician.

Rahman was a keyboard player and arranger for bands such as Roots (with childhood friend and percussionist Sivamani, Suresh Peters and John Anthony, JoJo and Raja) and founded the Chennai-based rock group Nemesis Avenue. He mastered the keyboard, piano, synthesiser, harmonium and guitar, and was particularly interested in the synthesiser because it was the "ideal combination of music and technology".

Rahman began his early musical training under Master Dhanraj, and at age 11 began playing in the orchestra of a Malayalam composer (and close friend of his father) M. K. Arjunan. He soon began working with other composers, such as M. S. Viswanathan, Vijaya Bhaskar, Ilaiyaraaja, Ramesh Naidu, Vijay Anand, Hamsalekha and Raj–Koti, accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship from Trinity College London to the Trinity College of Music.

During his early career, Rahman had assisted many music directors in playing the keyboard and synthesiser. One of the notable works includes a Malayalam film, Ramji Rao Speaking released in 1989 where Rahman and Sivamani programmed a song called "Kalikalam" for the music director S. Balakrishnan. Cinematographer Santosh Sivan signed Rahman for his second film Yoddha, a Malayalam film starring Mohanlal and directed by Sivan's brother Sangeeth Sivan that released in September 1992.

Studying in Madras, Rahman graduated with a diploma in Western classical music from the school. Rahman was introduced to Qadiri tariqa when his younger sister was seriously ill in 1984. His mother was a practising Hindu. At the age of 23, he converted to Islam with the members of his family in 1989.

Rahman also changed his name during this period. In an interview with Karan Thapar, he revealed that he never liked his birth name as it did not resonate with his self-image. According to his biography A. R. Rahman: The Spirit of Music by Nasreen Munni Kabir, a Hindu astrologer suggested the names "Abdul Rahman" and "Abdul Rahim," and Rahman instantly connected with the former. His mother later added "Allah Rakha" (AR) to his name after it came to her in a dream.

Rahman initially composed scores for different documentaries and jingles for advertisements and Indian television channels. In 1987 Rahman, then still known as Dileep, composed jingles for a line of watches introduced by Allwyn. He also arranged the jingles for some advertisements that went on to become very popular, including the popular jingle for Titan Watches, in which he used the theme from Mozart's Symphony no.25. In 1992, he was approached by director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for his Tamil film, Roja.