Happy Birthday AR Rahman: 10 Lesser Known Facts Of This Music Maestro

Rahman was born as a Hindu and was named as Dileep Kumar by his parents but later he embraced Islam after his ill younger sister was cured by a Sufi saint Karimullah Shah Kadriand. Thus he changed his name to Allah Rakha Rahman.

AR Rahman wanted to become a computer engineer.

Rahman’s first salary was Rs 50 which he earned for operating a record player.

Rahman and his son Ameen share the same birth date 6th January…

AR Rahman not only owns a ‘Limca Book Of Record’ but also holds the record being the only Indian to be featured in ‘List of best-selling music artists of the world’.

AR Rahman’s list of awards:

AR Rahman is fondly called as ‘The Mozart of Madras' and 'Isai Puyal'.

Airtel’s signature tune which was composed by AR Rahman holds the record of ‘world's most downloaded mobile music’ with 150 million downloads.

AR Rahman who is a huge inspiration for all the budding singers and young musicians is inspired by Chick Corea, Dave Grusin and Herbie Hancock.

A street in Markham, Ontario, Canada, has been named in AR Rahman’s honour in November 2013.