Happy Birthday AR Rahman: The music maestro’s birth name is Dilip Kumar and other fun facts about him

AR Rahman was born to a Hindu father named RK Shekhar.

New Delhi: Music maestro AR Rahman turned 55 on Thursday (January 6). The Oscar and Grammy-winning artist has composed music for Tamil films, Bollywood and Hollywood as well. While his soulful tunes has entertained audiences across the globe, here are some fun facts about the composer.

• AR Rahman was born in a Hindu family and was named Dilip Kumar. His father RK Shekhar, was a song composer in Tamil and Malayalam.
• Dilip Kumar became Allahrakha Rahman at the age of 23 and embraced Islam after he met Sufi saint, Qadri Islam.
• AR Rahman is a very private and shy person. The music composer has 3 kids - two daughters and a son namely Khatija, Rahima and Ameen.
• AR Rahman shares his birthday with his son Ameen on January 6.

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• As a kid, AR Rahman was part of Doordarshan's Wonder Balloon show, where he got popular for being the kid who could play 4 keyboards at once.
• AR Rahman was discovered by Mani Ratnam. He asked Rahman to compose music for his film ‘Roja’ and paid him Rs 25000 for the project. The music was a huge hit and made Rahman win his first National Film Award.
• AR Rahman is a recipient of the prestigious Oscars award, Grammy awards and BAFTA. He was presented with them in 2009 for the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
• Rahman’s Oscar-winning song ‘Jai Ho’ was initially composed for the Salman Khan starrer- Yuvraaj.

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• AR Rahman has a street named after himself in Markham, Ontario, Canada. He received this honour in November 2013.
• Apart from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, Rahman has provided music scores for other Hollywood films like ‘127 Hours’ and ‘Lord Of War’. 
• AR Rahman holds the ‘Indian of the Year for Contribution to Popular Music’ record in the Limca Book of Records 2007.