Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Download | AirTel TVC - a boy playing in rain | Video,mp4 and mp3

Live Every Moment | Express Yourself | Power of Human Expression| Boy Playing in Rain | Two boys at Border | Madhavan and Vidya | Delhi Marathon | Garv feat.SRK | Sachin and friends | Hostel | Aisi Azadi feat. SRK | Call home feat.SRK | Dil Ki Baath | Coming Home | DTH TV | Google on AirTel | Friends Pack | DTH TV | Voice SMS feat SRK and Saif | Proud To be Bharti

Last Updated : 03 January 2009 at 07:10 PM (India)

Updates : 03 Jan - fixed dead links and added Mp4 and Mp3

Watch YouTube Video | AirTel Tv Commercial - a boy playing in Rain

Download AirTel Rain Video for PC

Quality : Medium | WMV

Download AirTel Rain Video for your Mobile

Quality : Good | MP4

Download AirTel Rain mp3

Quality : Medium | Mp3 | Video Rip



AR Rahman's MRF Tyres TV Commercial - Old and Rare Ad


This Old MRF TV ad is directed by Bharat Bala (of Vandematarm fame) and music by AR Rahman. Actually there are around 11 TV ads which ar rahman and bharat bala done together for MRF Tyres. The Famous MRF Signature Tune Drum Beats (You can hear it in last seconds in this video) also composed by AR Rahman.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

1995 | A R Rahman Biography - New


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Last Updated on 23 March, 2009 at 08:00 PM (India)
You are Here : Explorer > Biography > 1995
courtesy: Gopal Srinivas .I have edited for better Reading.

Bollywood >

In early 1995 'Kadhalan' was dubbed into Hindi as 'Humse Hai Muqabla' and needless to say, went the same way as the original. In April 1995, Rahman's third film with Mani Ratnam, the controversial 'Bombay' was released. The successful partnership that he had forged with his mentor went to new heights with the music of this film. The music of 'Bombay' was one of the most awaited scores and was hailed as a classic.

With this film, Rahman also formally took to playback singing. Rahman had lent his voice to his compositions earlier too but they had been part of the chorus or bit pieces like 'Marhaba' in 'Urvashi' in 'Kadhalan' or background pieces and interludes like 'Yelelo' in 'Chinna Chinna Aasai' in 'Roja'. But 'Hamma Hamma' in 'Bombay' was Rahman's first complete song. With 'Humma Humma' Rahman came to be regarded as much a playback singer as a composer. 'Bombay' also became the first Rahman film to be released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi simultaneously. 'Humma Humma' became an instant chartbuster and went on to become the blockbuster of the year.

Rahman composed a haunting and surreal instrumental theme to capture the sombre mood of the film. The evocative, soul-stirring and sensitive theme music, with a remarkably outstanding flute interlude by his flautist Naveen, of 'Bombay' touched the hearts of many and was included by popular British-Indian Artiste Talvin Singh as a part of his album "Sounds from the Asian Underground'(Listen/Download Audio) and aroused a great deal of curiosity in A. R. Rahman's music among international music connoisseurs.

A critic named Kingsley Marshall had this to say of the Bombay Theme - "Establishing itself through soundtracked strings, which sits menacingly in a cradle of drifting flute rises - epic horns introducing a full orchestral progression. Although classical music is more than a little unusual in a compilation of dance music, the beauty of the piece warrants its inclusion - in a class above most of the material I've heard in the last couple of months with regards both production and arrangement. Simply stunning." The music of 'Bombay' became the biggest seller in the history of Indian films toppling 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun' from the top'.Later Bombay theme music fetured in an hollywood film "lord of war"(Watch video) and "volvic mineral water ad feat Zidane"(Watch Video)

Following closely on the heels of 'Humse Hai Muqabla' and 'Bombay', Rahman's first original score in Hindi, 'Rangeela' was awaited with great expectations. Carrying the tremendous burden of the enormous expectations of the public once again, Rahman did not disappoint. 'Rangeela' became an instant runaway success. With 'Rangeela' Rahman had successfully stormed the Bollywood bastion. Though Aamir Khan's performance in the film did help in sustaining the film at the box-office, it was Rahman's music that brought the crowds in droves to the theatres. Every song in the film became a phenomenal hit. With the songs 'Rangeela Re' and 'Tanha Tanha' Rahman brought veteran singer Asha Bhonsle back into the limelight. Crowds danced to the music in the theatres and forced the theatres into showing the songs again. People whistled in the theatres as his name appeared in the credits of the movie. He hogged equal space with the actors on the publicity material of the film. For the first time a music director was also considered as one of the 'stars' of the film. The Tamil Nadu distributor of Rangeela, apprehensive about how Rangeela would perform there, since it was a Hindi film and none of the stars were particularly well known in that part of the country, took the advice of his brother-in-law, Ganshyam Hemdev, of Pyramid Music, and did away with the actors altogether from the posters and replaced them with a mugshot of Rahman with the catchline "The first original score of A.R.Rahman in Hindi". And sure enough, crowds flocked to watch the movie like crazy and for the first time a Hindi film was a runaway success in Tamil Nadu.

Late 1995 saw the release of 'Indira' directed by Suhasini Maniratnam where Rahman came up with a score with a rural touch. The score met with lukewarm success with a couple of songs 'Thoda Thoda' and 'Nila Kaigiradhu' becoming popular. By the end of 1995, Rahman was the No.1 composer in the country, all at the age of 28. Hailed by various critics as 'the true successor to R.D.Burman' and the 'Messiah of Music' he had endeared himself to the Bombay film crowd as well but Bollywood music directors were none too happy about his success. Not only were they now unable to rip off his tunes without a care but they had to compete with him on their own turf to boot. Rahman began to reportedly charge over 1 crore rupees (10 million) per film, more than three times that of his nearest competitor. But most producers were readily willing to shell out even that amount forcing him to further hike his fees as a deterrent and keep the producers at bay. The ones who could not sign up Rahman took someone else and asked him for a 'Rahman jaisa gaana'(literally - Rahman type song - meaning a song in the style of Rahman's music). He had become a national idol and cult figure. His style of music had become the rage of the day.

Isai Puyal >

Rahman's music also began to arouse interest internationally. He was treated like a God and crowned with titles like 'Isai Arasan'(Emperor of Music); 'Isai Puyal' (Musical Storm) and 'Melody King'. Adulation that was reserved for the biggest of film stars was showered on him. Moviegoers cheered wildly and threw money at the screen when his name appeared on the credits. Films that were sold on the strength of the stars in it or its directors now began to sell just on the strength of the name A. R. Rahman attached to it and attract fabulous initial responses when released. The music rights of the movie, till then just a nominal source of additional income for the producer, became a separate territory in its own right and commanded prices equivalent to the distribution rights.

Any Rahman sound track used to sell out within hours of its release. For the first time one could see crowds queuing up outside music stores on the morning of the release of any Rahman soundtrack. Crowds that used to leave the movie hall for a break during the songs stayed put firmly in their seats and took in every note of the songs in Rahman's films. People came in to music stores and asked if there were any new releases by Rahman, instead of the practice of asking for a film by name or by a that of a starring popular actor. But Rahman had a sound head on his shoulders and took none of this overwhelming acclaim to mind. He had his feet firmly planted to the ground and went about his work with the same devotion and dedication as before. He did not give a dozen interviews a week and shoot his mouth off like most others did. In fact he became very elusive and remained as media-shy as ever. He rarely if ever met the media, going to great lengths to avoid them and would not even say more than a 'Thank You' at awards nites inspite of rpeated requests for rendering a song on stage. This earned him the nickname 'Artful Dodger'.

In 1995 he yet again won the Filmfare Award and the Tamil Nadu State Award , among many others, for 'Kadhalan'. He was also a very strong contender for the National Award. But according to Chetan Anand, the Chairman of the Jury for the National Awards for that year "Rahman's music in 'Kadhalan' had a great deal of variety which established the versatility of the composer and swung most members in the jury to his side, but since 'Kadhalan' was a typical masala movie, we thought it would send the wrong signals to film makers and decided against giving it the award". End 1995 also saw the release of an album of his favourite lyricist, Vairamuthu's double album of poetry amp;'Thenvandhu Paayudhe' where he scored the background music for Vairamuthu's recitation. But the album remained very inconspicuous. He consolidated his hold on Bollywood and signed more Hindi films with Shekhar Kapoor's 'Tararampampam' (which is yet to be made), Boney Kapoor's 'Pukaar' to be directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi and Ramgopal Varma's 'Daud'.

Fresh from the success of his "Bandit Queen", director Shekhar Kapoor planned "Tararampampam" as a mega musical with 10 songs. Rumours that Rahman himself would be producing the movie abounded. But Kapoor took for foreign shores leaving the movie unmade as yet. He also agreed to do a film in Hindi for his schoolmate turned director Shivendra Singh titled 'Waqia' and later a second film with him titled 'Ittefaq'. Rahman was to work with Gulzar on both the movies. Both the films never got made unfortunately. Rahman's first score for Rajnikanth was released, with 'Muthu' in 1995. The score was awaited with high expectations and one witnessed serpentine queues outside music stores on the morning of the soundtrack's release and cassettes were even sold at a premium. Though the music did very well it was criticised for not suiting Rajnikanth's superstar image. The song 'Thillana Thillana' became a chartbuster. He also did 'Lovebirds' the same year where he sang a song with the international Bhangra-Rap star Apache Indian.

Other Projects >


His music also received international recognition when his tracks were used on the BBC Clothes Show and other international fashion shows. He was invited to compose the theme music of the 1996 Cricket World Cup that was to be held in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Rahman accepted the offer but later backed out for unspecified reasons with some sources saying that he had quoted lack of sufficient time to do a befitting job. He also signed three films with Hollywood-Indian producer Ashok Amritraj, one film each in Tamil(Jeans), Hindi(Love You Hamesha) and English(Jungle Boy). He was also offered 'Kamasutra' by the Indian-American director Mira Nair and 'Fire' by Indian born Canadian director Deepa Mehta. He accepted only the latter. He would go on to do 'Earth' and 'Water' with Deepa Mehta, to complete her Elements trilogy. He later said in an interview that much as he wanted to work with Mira Nair he turned down Kamasutra because he did not want to be known internationally as the 'Kamasutra Boy'.

Reflecting on the runaway success of his rhythm based tunes, he says, " I had some golden rules when I started my first film, 'Roja'. These rules were - good lyrics, good thought, good melodies, good recording and good presentation. But I think Gentleman was to break the rule completely because Shankar wanted commercial music for the film to break the monotony of the serious subject. So we did it, and gave it full blast to them. Unfortunately the success of the rhythm-based compositions reached the masses much faster than normal 'Roja' type of music and the trend became an epidemic because it was easy and safe. I was pushed by producers to make similar kind of stuff. But rhythm-based compositions can be listened to only for a very short time, though we put in too much energy in polishing it. But later, I realised that the golden rules were going out of my hand. I think we are back to normal."

Marriage >

On the personal front, 1995 proved to be a momentous year for him. That year, on March 12, he got married to Saira Banu, sister-in-law of the Tamil actor Rahman and the daughter of a Madras based businessman.

Downloads >

Movies >

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1994 | A R Rahman Biography - New


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Last Updated on 23 March, 2009 at 08:00 PM (India)
You are Here : Explorer > Biography > 1994
courtesy: Gopal Srinivas .I have edited for better Reading.

 

New Trend >

In late-1994, 'Roja' was dubbed into Hindi. Needless to say, both the movie and the music become phenomenal successes. This heralded a new trend where every Rahman film was necessarily a trilingual with the film getting dubbed into Telugu and Hindi. 'Roja' was also later dubbed into Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali.

At the time of Roja's success in Hindi, Rahman's second film for Shankar, 'Kadhalan' featuring dancing sensation Prabhudeva was released. It was as if the movie was structured around the brilliant score that Rahman produced for Kadhalan. While the entire score was a runaway hit, one song 'Mukkala Muqabla' caught the imagination of the entire nation, never mind if the song was in Tamil. "Muqabla' became the flavour of the year. The song was played at every club, disco, restaurant, marriage hall and street corner across the country and went down in Indian movie history as one of the most popular songs of all time. There was not a soul in the country who was neither dancing to it or humming it. With this song Rahman became a nationally recognised figure. The song was plagiarised freely by Bombay's tunesmiths and nearly a dozen versions of the song were churned out, a feat that earned 'Muqabla' and Rahman a place in the Limca Book of Records, the Indian equivalent of the Guinness Book of Records.

But Rahman was more pleased about the immense popularity of the song 'Ennavale Adi Ennavale' which won Carnatic vocalist Unnikrishnan, making his film debut with this song, the National Award, because he felt that it is easy to compose a dance number like 'Muqabla' which is here today and gone tomorrow but is real hard work to produce an everlasting gem like 'Ennavale'. He said that he had been inspired by a 2000 year old Tamil composition. Overnight most Rahman tunes in Tamil reappeared in Hindi albeit under the baton of other music directors.

Three other releases of Rahman that year were 'Pavithra', 'Karuthamma' with Bharathiraaja and "May Maatham', a film that was originally supposed to be made by Mani Ratnam but was later made by his cousin Balu.

One interesting story about May Maatham went thus. Producer G. Venkateshwaran, incidentally Mani Ratnam's brother, sold the rights of the music of the film to three companies simultaneously on the strength of Rahman's score. Lahiri, Pyramid and HMV shelled out huge sums, sure of the score's success but unaware of the producer's subterfuge. When the deed was discovered the companies took GV to court. He finally sold the rights to Pyramid who had offered him the highest sum, mollified Lahiri by offering them the rights of his next film with Rahman, Indira -diretced by Suhasini Maniratnam, and had an out-of-court settlement with HMV.

In 1994 Rahman also won the Filmfare Award, Tamil Nadu State Award and many others for 'Gentleman'. He also won the Filmfare-R. D. Burman Award for best new musical talent.

Bollywood >



Following the unprecedented success of 'Muqabla' Rahman realised the importance of not only having to do original Hindi scores but also ensure that the dubbed Hindi versions of his Tamil films were released simultaneously, to prevent the continued blatant lifting of his tunes by Bollywood tunesmiths. He stepped into the cutthroat world of Bollywood when he signed two Hindi films, one for director Mahesh Bhatt and one for the Seengals of Compact Disc India to be directed by Priyadarshan. While the film with Mahesh Bhatt was shelved even before a scene was canned the other film was taken over by R.Mohan('Good Knight' Mohan) of Shogun Films and would appear much later as 'Kabhi Na Kabhi'. But his first original release in Hindi would actually be the third film that he would sign.

Popular Telugu director Ramgopal Varma was also setting foot into Bollywood just then with two films, one a remake of one of his Telugu films 'Gaayam' which had a script by Mani Ratnam and the other titled 'Rangeela'. Following a strong recommendation from friend and colleague Mani Ratnam, Varma signed on Rahman for 'Rangeela'. Following this, directors from Bollywood clamoured to work with the 'whiz-kid' and Rahman also signed Bollywood movie mogul Subhash Ghai's Magnum Opus 'Shikhar' and noted art film director Govind Nihalani's 'Droh-kaal'. But 'Shikhar' was shelved and Rahman was forced to opt out of 'Droh-kaal' when he lost all his compositions for the movie owing to a computer system crash. But later Rahman would work with both directors, with Ghai in 'Taal - The Beat of Passion' and with Nihalani in 'Takshak'. Rahman was very frustrated about not being able to work in 'Droh-kaal' and rued the loss of his compositions for the movie. He recounted later that it was one of the most unique experiences for him.


 

Downloads >

Movies >
As an Arranger/Keyboard Player >

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1993 | A R Rahman Biography - New


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Last Updated on 22 March, 2009 at 10:08 PM (India)
You are Here : Explorer > Biography > 1993

More Projects >

The following year, 1993, saw a lot of new releases that made him more popular. His third film 'Pudhiya Mugam' with director Suresh Menon was also a success but was not in the same league as 'Roja'. It was his third film "Gentleman” with debutante director Shankar that firmly established him as the new king of Tamil film music. 'Gentleman' became a bigger hit than 'Roja' especially the song 'Chikku bukku rayile'. and two films in Telugu titled 'Super Police' and 'Gangmaster' , all of which were moderate successes. But his Telugu films have remained relatively unknown till date, inspite of having the classic Rahman touch in them.

His other films in Tamil in that and the subsequent year were 'Uzhavan'  with Kadhir, 'Kizhakku Cheemayile'  with Bharathiraaja, with both of whom he would work on many more films in the future, 'Vandicholai Chinnarasu', and 'Pudhiya Mannargal'. All the scores were only moderately successful. But it was his second score for Mani Ratnam in 'Thiruda Thiruda'  . Rahman redefined film music with his score in 'Thiruda Thiruda'. While the film itself did not do too well, the music became an all time chartbuster and the Tamil songs of 'Thiruda Thiruda' appeared on Hindi language countdown shows. It was for the first time that Tamil songs became popular on a national scale.


 

Downloads >

Movies >
  1. Uzhavan (Tamil)
  2. Thiruda Thiruda (Tamil)
  3. Pudhiya Mugam (Tamil)
  4. Gentleman (Tamil,Hindi)

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1992 | A R Rahman Biography - New


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Last Updated on 22 March, 2009 at 04:41 PM (India)
You are Here : Explorer > Biography > 1992
courtesy: Gopal Srinivas .I have edited for better Reading.

D-Day >

During this period, on one of his trips to Bombay he met the veteran Hindi music director Naushad Ali who was very impressed by the young Rahman's work and asked him to try his hand at composing for films. Rahman was initially a little hesitant about entering films mainly because of the attitude of most movie makers towards music, where songs were used as just fillers and something to give the audience a break during a movie.
But in 1991, he was given an offer that would change his life. At the awards function where he received the award for Best Jingle Composer for the Leo Coffee ad,he was approached by the man known as the Spielberg of India, Mani Ratnam. In the course of his interactions with Mani Ratnam, he was offered the responsibility of composing music for the director's forthcoming film. Rahman, inspite of his reluctance to seriously take up work in films, accepted the offer since Mani Ratnam had the reputation of a director with a keen taste for good music and he was sure the director would do justice to his compositions on screen.
Rahman would later say, "I wasn't sure myself why I accepted Roja. I was offered Rs.25,000 for it, a sum that I could make in three days composing ad jingles. I think it was the prospect of working with Mani that enticed me. Mani is no the usual kind of director who uses songs as fillers. He takes great pains over the music of his films. I love his picturisations, he can elevate a routine song by 400 percent; give it a new dimension." All the same, as a newcomer Rahman was terrified over his film debut. Expectations were high. What a fall if he failed! "Mani praised everything I did. Later I realised it was to keep me going. He discarded whatever bore the influence of others and picked out tunes that had my individual stamp. ''This is you!" he'd say.''
Rahman's D-Day arrived when 'Roja' was released on August 15th, 1992. It was awaited with curiosity since it was Mani Ratnam's first film without Illaiyaraja. Sceptics doubted the ability of a 25-year old debutant. The entire film world and filmgoers were in for a pleasant surprise. Rahman delivered the goods and how. To call the music a superhit would be an understatement. Rahman became a household name in Tamil Nadu overnight and the score of 'Roja' was the first step in his changing the face of Indian film music. 'Roja' not only won the heart of millions with its music it also won every conceivable award in music that year. Rahman also got the Rajat Kamal for best music director at the National Film Awards, the first time ever by a debutant. (later Ismail Darbar also won national award for his first film HDDCS in 1999)He was flooded with offers to do more films. He gradually cut down on his work in ads and subsequently moved into film music full time. And there was no looking back for A. R. Rahman. With 'Roja', A. R. Rahman had finally arrived.
Recalling the massive success of his first film, Rahman says, "I was lucky to set a sound in the first film. And I had the right people like Mani Ratnam guiding me to achieve it also and by the grace of god it set and the people know from the moment the song is heard that this is Rahman's."
Mani Ratnam, in response says, "I was not trying to any favours for Rahman. I was trying to do a film, I wanted good music and I was searching for somebody who would and I heard a demonstration tape of his which he had sent across. I thought that in the first note of the piece that he had sent me was really brilliant, really outstanding piece. So I went across to his studio and he played me some more, lots of things which he had done for jingles and a few other musical pieces he has done for somebody else. They were quite amazing and I had no doubts that he would be right for my film. How much he would grow, I was not looking at. I was looking at predominately my film at that point of time. He was ready to break a lot of conventions that were there in terms of music at that point of time, in terms of recording at that point in time. So I was very lucky to find someone who was willing to break away and do something different. To that extent it was absolutely perfect. He is the perfect bridge between today's technology and Indian music. He has the soul of Indian music inside and there is a lot of engineering and recording talent in him. He is able to blend the two together. He is a very talented person."
movie dubbed to many languages and become an all india success!
He got this offer from santhosh sivan who was the cameraman of roja.Yodha was a film inspired from "golden child" starring malayalam super star mohanlal and madhubala!it was directed by sangeeth sivan,younger brother of santosh and santosh himself take the role of cameraman.the music did not do well except one peppy number "padakali" sung by KJ Yesudas and MG sreekumar.the film have 3 songs and an instrumental version.the BGM music was awsome!
"For the songs of 'Yodha' , I did a lot of research in Nepali and Chinese music" .but songs and movie released before "Roja".so many things Yodha is his first movie!he reused one of the song in 1993 tamil film "Pavithra"

Fulltime to Films >

Producers began to queue up at his doorstep. But even at that young age, Rahman was very mature and sagacious. He did not let success go to his head and was very choosy about what he accepted. He had his priorities set right from the beginning. For a person who had struggled throughout his childhood, he did not let insecurity get the better of him and wisely opted for quality over quantity and refrained from signing films blindly.
"Rather than making money, I believe in making people happy; all other things are secondary. That is why I am not interested in a lot of movies but only in one at a time. I like directors whom I can vibe with. Ten years of experience in this field has made me quite frustrated. I have evolved a technique which requires a lot of time. Other music directors record a song in seven or eight hours. But I am different. We do a basic sitting and we record it. We record the voice and I add instrument by instrument to improve the quality."
He also began to formally learn Indian classical music, Carnatic from Dakshinamurthy and N. Gopalakrishnan and Hindustani from Krishnan Nair. He took classes in film music from Nithyanandham and Western Classical from Jacob John. He also learnt the qawwalli style from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan".

Downloads >


  • Roja (Tamil,Telugu,Malayalam,Marathi)


  • Yodha (Malayalam)



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Download Asian Paints - Pongal Special Video and Mp3

last updated : December 30 ,2008 at 10:00 PM (India)

Contents : YouTube Video | Video and Mp3 Downloads

This Old Asian Paints TV Commercial Video is directed by Rajive Meno.Song is composed by AR Rahman and it won many awards and recognition. This song was released as Pongal Special

Watch YouTube Video | Premier Pressure Cooker TV Commercial directed by Rajive Menon

Download Asian Paints -Pongal TV Ad Video

Quality : Low | FLV | Ripped from : YouTube

Download Asian Paints- Pongal TV Ad Mp3

Quality : Low | Mp3 | Ripped from : YouTube Video

Download Premier Pressure Cooker TV Commercial Video and Mp3

last updated : December 30 ,2008 at 09:15 PM (India)

Contents : YouTube Video | Video and Mp3 Downloads

This Old TV Commercial Song is composed by AR Rahman and Sung by Sujata.Sujata Sung many ad jingles fro ar rahman in 1987-1992.She also sung couple of songs in ar rahman's first album "Deen Isai Malai" which released in 1989.

Watch YouTube Video | Premier Pressure Cooker TV Commercial feat. Sujata


Download Premier Pressure Cooker TV Ad Video

Quality : Medium | FLV | Ripped from : YouTube

Download Premier Pressure Cooker TV Ad Mp3

Quality : Medium | Mp3 | Ripped from : YouTube Video



A.M.Studio | AR Rahman's New studio




"Heard some songs in the music room. Congrats! The studio feels good. Alhamdulilla! I know you guys are going to tweak to get it perfect. Just wanted to let you know what I felt.” - ar rahman



The 3,000 square-foot recording studio in Chennai, India renamed A.M. Studios (pictured) is the most comprehensive and equipped with latest technology in Asia. It took nearly three years to complete. The Acoustic Design & Architectural plans for the studios were made by Studio 440

A local Architectural and Construction Company in Chennai has been appointed to execute the project and to ensure that all construction is done according to Studio 440's stringent plans and design. Studio 440 is overseeing the construction through site visits and correspondance together with DAXCO DIGITAL.
, acoustic architects from CA, USA who have designed studios for Sony Music, Warner Brothers, just to name a few.




The two main rooms in the straightforward plan dovetail together in a complex section. Each is equipped with a console that sits atop raised platforms concealing cable troughs. A stepped window in the Control Room front wall offers clear sight lines to a screen in the adjacent Mix Stage/Tracking Room. Designed with its own projection system and motorized blackout window shades, the Control Room can function independently of the stage. Mobile racks facilitate sharing of equipment. Visible from the Control Room, iso booths lining one side of the stage have.


The Control Room is equipped with a 140 channel Euphonix System 5-M Digital Mixing Console with 2 cores . Having worked in several top studios in the UK , USA & Canada , Rahman had the opportunity to work with and evaluate all the large format consoles currently available in the market. He decided to go for the Euphonix System 5 as it gives him the speed, power and flexibility that he needs for his work which ranges from Music Recording & Mixing to 5.1 Mixing . Another important factor for Rahman was that the System 5 supports 24-bit / 96KhZ operation which allows him to work in the highest quality digital environment and to be ready for DVD Audio .Recording will be done on the Euphonix 48-track 96kHz/ 24-bit R-1 Digital Audio Multi-track Recorder . The decision to use the R-1 Recorder was a natural one for Rahman, as it features a simple user-interface, superior sound quality , is highly efficient and reliable - and at 24bit / 96K perfect for DVD Audio .

The Monitoring System is a Miller & Kreisel 5.1 surround THX system. Some of the Outboard equipment includes Manley, Focusrite, Lexicon -960L,TC-6000

The Mix stage will be home to Thomlinson Holmen's Terrasect Speakers and the Main studio will be using exclusively designed George Massenburg Speakers.

The bass system in the recording studio/mixing stage is comprised of four self-powered Bag End INFRAsub-18 PRO subwoofer systems, specified by Daxco Digital. The INFRAsub-18 PRO offers enhanced control abilities for professional surround applications. It is powered by Bag End’s INFRA internal 400-watt amplifier and controlled by the company’s exclusive dual integrator, which is also internal.

In his latest studio also upgraded with Euphonix System 5 with Genelec monitors. At the new recording room Rahman have installed a Neve 88R. His latest project such as “Rang De Basanti” and “Provoked” were done at the new facility. The other Rahman favourite software is Melodyne Bridge which run on the MacOS X Tiger.

Through the combination of professional design by Studio 440 , consultation and supply of state-of-the-art equipment by DAXCO DIGITAL make this studio Asias No.1!











Studio Details



Layout:
35m2-380ft2 control room
120m2-1300ft2
mix stage / record space
2 isolation booths
2 machine rooms
One lobby

Control room

Front
Surrounds
Subwoofers
Amplifiers
Processing

7.1 monitoring

3 x Dynaudio M4+
4 x Dynaudio BM15
2 x Dynaudio 18"
Chord SPA
XTA DP226 & DP224


Equipment:


Neve 88R mixing board
Protools HD3 system
Pyramix system
MOTU 896 interface

Mix stage

Front
Surrounds
Subwoofers
Amplifiers
Processing

7.1 monitoring

3 x Tesseract MPTS-1
8 x JBL 8340
4 x Bag End Infrasub-18
Bryston 9B & 4B SST
TMH Bass man
Ashly 424Gs & 224GS


Equipment:


Euphonix System 5
Euphonix R1 recorder
Pro Tools HD3
Dolby Processor CP650
DTS Processor
Stewart Filmscreen 21ft
DPI Mercury HD projector


Features:

TMH certification

Project management &
Acoustical consulting:


SOUND WIZARD

Architecture & design:
Studio 440 - L.A.
Wiring & integration:
Studio Care - Chennai
Contractor:
New Dawn Carpentry
Completion:
August 2005





Old Studio(Panchathan record Inn)









Pre-Roja (Earlier Days) | A R Rahman Biography - New





Pre-Roja | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009

Last Updated on 22 March, 2009 at 04:41 PM (India)
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courtesy: Gopal Srinivas .I have edited for better Reading.

Earlier Days >

A.R.Rahman or Allah Rakha Rahman was born actually A. S. Dileep Kumar on the 6th of January in the year 1966, in Madras (now Chennai), to a musically affluent Tamil Mudaliar family. The second of four children he had three sisters Kanchana, Bala (now Talat) and Israth, Kanchana being elder and the other two younger. His father R.K. Sekhar was a composer, arranger and conductor in Malayalam movies and had worked under the likes of Salil Chowdhary and Devarajan. His mother was Kasthuri (now Kareema Begum). Dileep's baptism in music happened early in life. Dileep's earliest memories of the studio are with his father. On one of those visits, a music director Sudarshanam Master found the four year old playing a tune on the harmonium. He covered the keys with a cloth. It made no difference. Dileep replayed the tune effortlessly. This impressed the music director who suggested that he be trained in music. Dileep started learning the piano at the tender age of four. He recieved his early training in music from Dhanraj Master.

But he wanted to grow up to be an electronics or computer engineer. He says today, in reminiscence " I was not crazy after music. I was more interested in technology". He was first drawn to music strongly when his father bought a synthesiser, one of the very first in film circles then, from Singapore. Till then he now says, "As a child, music seemed to be a means of earning bread and butter. I had no special fascination for it... it was associated purely with work. Yet I couldn't take my eyes away from the synthesiser, it was like a forbidden toy." This instrument was an object of much curiosity to the young Dileep and caught his fancy. Dileep used to spend hours experimenting with the novel instrument. This instrument was to shape the future of this child. It was perhaps divinely ordained that the synthesiser would become Dileep's favourite instrument since it was the ideal combination of music and technology.

Rahman's early years were one of struggle and hardships. At the age of 11, his father passed away following a mysterious illness with rumours abounding that he was the victim of black magic practised by his rivals. Unfortunately R. K. Shekhar passed away the very same day his first film as composer was released. It was at this time that Rahman's belief in God first took a beating. Much of his time was filled with hospital visits, pain and anxieties. It is an issue that Rahman outrightly refuses to discuss even today. After his father's death the pressure of supporting his family fell on the young Dileep. At first the family subsisted by lending out his father's musical instruments.

It was his mother Kareema Begum who encouraged him to follow in his father's footsteps and fully supported him in his vocation. But all this had an adverse effect on his formal education. Infrequent attendance and an unaccommodative management forced him to shift schools from the prestigious Padma Seshadri Bal Bhavan to the Madras Christian College and finally he dropped out of school altogether when he was doing his 11th grade.


Working as Keyboard Player >

He joined Illaiyaraja's troupe as a keyboard player in order to earn for his family's upkeep. He also learnt to play the guitar. Thus Rahman formally entered the world of music. He also began to play the keyboard for programmes on television.He also played on the orchestra of M.S.Vishwanathan, Raj-Koti and Ramesh Naidu and accompanied Zakir Hussain and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan on world tours. He also appeared playing the keyboard on a few popular music shows on televison like 'Wonder Balloon' (KaNmaNi PoongA/Wonder Balloon -Madras DD produced Thamizh/English serial for kids) on the Madras Doordarshan channel. He also supposedly composed a few short pieces of music in Ilaiyaraja's films, a notable one being the theme music in K.Balachander's 'Punnagai Mannan(1986)' Starring Delhi Ganesh ,Kamal Hassan,Rekha,Revathi and Srvidya.

Dileep thus firmly established himself this way and worked for nearly 8 to 9 years with various music directors. He also worked as an arranger for Illaiyaraja, M.S.Vishwanathan, Ouseappachan and Raj-Koti.He worked with ousappachan on a Tamil album ‘Andhi Maalai’(Download) which released in 1987.He played keyboard and arranged whole songs.Also composed some interludes for this album.Its re-released in 1994 with A R Rahman as music director (Read more here).His first song as an arranger was ‘Ho Pa Pa’ from 'Raj Koti’s ‘Trinethrudu(Download)
He has this to say of his stint with Illaiyaraja "Until then I thought you had to drink or take dope to be a good artist. But Ilayaraja was making such beautiful music and leading a pure life!'' " I was under the impression that if its music, whoever it is, they must have some bad habit. When I saw them with drinks and drugs I thought 'Oh! they are music people. They have to take drinks, smoke and cocaine to get their inspiration'. The man who changed these impressions altogether was only Ilayaraja. He proved that he can make good music without any bad habits! Even now he is an inspiration for me being so religious today."



Trinity College of Music at Oxford University >

All this experience enabled him to earn a scholarship to the famed Trinity College of Music at Oxford University from where he obtained a degree in Western Classical Music. He came back with a dream to bring an international and contemporary world perspective to Indian music. After he returned, he continued to be a part of various local music troupes. He was also a part of local rock bands like Roots, Magic and Nemesis Avenue and Roxygen where he performed with his future colleagues like Suresh Peters, Ranjit Barot and Sivamani Anandan. This, he says, was a very valuable learning experience. Thus Dileep came to be totally immersed in music. The only source of joy to him was music, so much so, that friends like guitarist John Anthony would say, "Who is the Prime Minister of India, do you know? Get out and see beyond your nose in Kodambakkam". But he was not at all sure he wanted to turn professional.

But the young and enthusiastic Dileep felt shackled by just plain arranging and could barely withstand the monotony of playing in an orchestra all the time with all his creative urges being suppressed. The kind of sound he liked was already there in fusion - in L. Shankar and L. Subramaniam whom he worked with, and in the then popular 'Shakti' group.
He played on the keyboard for T. V. Gopalakrishnan and Kadri Gopalnath, with Sivamani on the drums. He says, "It gave us some kicks.''



Entering into world of Jingles >

 
At this time, Vizi Manuel, the lead keyboard player in Illaiyaraja's troupe advised him to try other alternatives for pursuing a musical career, like advertising. This was a suggestion that appealed to him and he explored some avenues seriously. The complexes increased. "I thought, what if the film world ends? I learnt driving, so that I could survive as a driver.'' The restlessness pushed him into making jingles for ads.


First break >

Fortunately for Dileep he soon got his first break in advertising when he was asked to compose the jingle to promote Allwyn's new Trendy range of watches, in 1987. The ads were a success and Dileep's work in them was appreciated. Dileep quit playing in orchestras and moved full time into advertising as a few more offers came his way. Thus began Dileep's 5-year successful saga in advertising where he went on to not only compose more than 300 jingles, but would also be the stepping stone to his entry into films.


TV Commercials >

Continuing with his stint in the advertising world Rahman did a lot of popular ads here are the List .He had composed over 300 ad films

  1. Asian Paints directed by rajeev menon (download)


  2. Cinthol featuring Arvind Swami dircted by rajeev menon! (Download)


  3. Leo Coffee featuring Arvind swami (Download)


  4. Leo Springz Mineral Water (Download)


  5. Titan watch directed by Rajive Menon (Download)


  6. Remanika Sarees -thrissur,kerala (Download)


  7. Premier Pressure Cooker sung by sujata (Download)


  8. MRF Tyres Directed by Bharatbala (Download)


  9. Garden sarees ft. Lisa Rai (Download)


  10. Boost featuring Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev


  11. Parry's Kasthuri Tea


  12. Tilda Basmati Rice (Download)


  13. Jeenic Choclates


  14. Murugan textiles


  15. Hero Puch


  16. The Hindu Young World


  17. Allwyn's Trendy watches


  18. Nestle Sunrise Cofee directed by Rajeev Menon


  19. butterfly home appliances


  20. Bru cofee


  21. Shriram chit funds


  22. Tata chola tea directed by Bharatbala


  23. MGM Dizee world


  24. John's umbrellas


  25. BSA Cycles


  26. Bavens Studio in Kerala


  27. Rasna ft. Vikram


  • Do you know any other jingle composed by rahman? just Contact me


He also scored the title music for television channels like JJTV, Sun TV pongal (Download), and Asianet(download) and later NDTV(Download). He also scored the music for numerous television and radio commercials, scores for corporate films and documentaries, multi-media audio-visual scores national integration programmes, social awareness and public campaign programmes and international documentaries in many languages. These scores range from 10 seconds to a complete hour.

The jingles that he composed for the Leo Coffee ad starring Aravind Swamy and the Asian Paints ad directed by Rajeev Menon also won him awards and recognition. He also won an award for composing the theme music of the Madras Telugu Academy's Spirit of Unity Concerts(Download)

Later he would say about his stint in advertising " Working in ads contributed to the precision in my music. In jingles, you only have a few seconds to create a mood, or convey a message or emotion. Jingles taught me discipline."

Working as a jingle composer not only gave him an outlet to his creative urges but also gave him the much needed exposure to the music industry. The people he came in contact with during his work in advertising gave him a pathway to the film world.



Three Albums >


During his stint in advertising, he released his first ever complete music album, of Islamic devotional songs, titled 'Deen Isai Malai'(Download), in Tamil. This was later followed by 'Set Me Free'(Download), an album of English songs which was the launch album of singer Malgudi Subha, by Magnasound, where Dileep set the songs to tune. Subha had earlier sung for Dileep in many jingles. Both the albums went somewhat unnoticed in the market. He also set to tune the poems of poet-author Randhir Khare for Asianet(Read news in Indiatoday ,Randhir site ) .
Also he did Background music for Vairamuthu’s Poem ‘Then Vandhu Paayedhu’ (Download) which released in 1991.Also he played keyboard for Zakir Hussain’s Golden Krithis Colours’(Download)


Converting to Islam >

Around this time, in 1988, one of his sister fell seriously ill and numerous attempts to cure her failed. Her condition progressively worsened. The family tried everything from medicine to religious methods like havans and prayers in the church. The family had given up all hope when they came in close contact with a Muslim Pir - Sheik Abdul Qadir Jeelani or Pir Qadri as he was popularly known. The family had earlier gone to the Pir when his father had similar troubles, but were too late to save him. With his prayers and blessings, Dileep's sister made a miraculous recovery. Rattled by the bad experiences earlier in the case of his father and now his sister and influenced by the teachings of the Pir and the succour that they found in him the entire family converted to Islam. Thus A. S. Dileep Kumar became Allah Rakha Rahman. Today, Rahman says 'Islam has given me peace. As Dileep I had an inferiority complex. As A. R. Rahman I feel like I have been born again.'

Both his father and mother were believers in Astrology. His mother took him along once to a astrologer to get the horoscope of Bala (Talat) done. She asked the astrologer to suggest an Islamic name for Dilip. The astrologer on seeing Dilip immediately told his mother to name him as Abdul Rahman and shorten it to A. R. Rahman. When his mother asked the astrologer why the other initial 'R', the astrologer replied "Give him a name with two initials and mark my words, he will grow up to be a great man". His mother did accordingly. But the A and R would later become Allah Rakha on the suggestion of reknowned composer Naushad Ali.

In an interview, he was to say about his father, " My father passed away when I was 11 years old. My mother used to narrate many tales about my father which used to make me very happy. My father was regarded to be highly knowledgeable in music by many people. I still listen to many of the old songs tuned by him. I think that its his enormous knowledge of music that has come down to me by the grace of God".

When asked what prompted him to convert to Islam, he says "I remember my father suffering. He was taken to eight to nine hospitals, including the CMC hospital in Vellore and the Vijaya hospital in Madras. I saw him suffering physical pain... I remember the Christian priests who would read from the Bible beside his hospital bed... I remember the pujas and the yagnas performed by the pundits... by the time, the Muslim pirs came , it was too late. He had already left us. After my father passed away, for some years when I was a teenager I believed there was no God. But there was a feeling of restlessness within me. I realised that there can be no life without a force governing us... without one God. And I found what I was looking for in Islam. I would go with my mother to durgahs. And pirsaab Karim Mullashah Qadri would advise us. When we shifted to this house, we resolved to stick to the faith."Rahman became a very religious and devout Muslim. After this period his career graph began to take the upward path. More and more advertising offers came his way.


Panchathan Record Inn >

In 1989 Rahman was very intent on having an own studio so that he would have dedicated recording facilities where he could not only equip himself with the latest infrastucture but also experiment with music at his convenience. At this time, the Pir came to his house and blessed him saying that he would attain unparalled success. The very next day the Pir passed away. Thus Rahman decided to establish his studio at the very spot where he had been blessed by the Pir. He called his studio Panchathan Record Inn and it was attached to his house in Kodambakkam. Even today, the first thing that you notice when you enter his studio is a framed photograph of the Pir. The studio abounds with Islamic inscriptions. (This studio would later develop into one of India's most well equipped and advanced recording studios....Read More) In his established state-of-the-art sound and recording studio he began experimenting in sound engineering, design and production. He also began a collection of sound samples, creating one of the most comprehensive sonic libraries in Asia.
Now Studio renamed as A.M.Studio was inagurated by Lata Mangeshkar in 2006 (Read More about his New Sudio)


Entering to Film World >

The year was 1991. Ace Tamil movie director Mani Ratnam was on the lookout for a new composer to give music for his films. His long standing fruitful association with the doyen of Tamil film music Illaiyaraja, which had spanned over 10 films and as many years had come to an end when the two had had a fallout after the latter reportedly made some sarcastic comments during the making of Mani Ratnam's then latest film 'Dalapati'.

One day, at an awards function for excellence in the field of advertising, Mani Ratnam chanced upon a young man who received the award for the best ad jingle which he had composed for the popular Leo Coffee ad. At the celebrations party that followed the awards presentation ceremony, Mani Ratnam was introduced to the young composer by his cousin Sharada Trilok of Trish Productions for whose company the young man had produced some outstanding work. Sharada had words of high praise for the young composer. Mani was curious and requested him for a sample of his wares. The composer readily complied and invited the director over to his studio.

Mani Ratnam turned up at the studio only after six months, where the 24 year old lad played out a tune that he had been pushed into composing by his school friend G.Bharat alias Bala when they both had been greatly disturbed by the socio-political tensions in South India over the Cauvery river waters issue. Listening to the tune that was played, Mani was hooked instantly. Without a second thought he signed on the composer to score the music for his next film. That film did not work out but Mani signed him on for a new film which was to be produced by the veteran Tamil director K.Balachander for his respected 'Kavithalayaa' banner. That film was 'Roja'. That tune would become the song "Tamizha Tamizha" in 'Roja'. The music of the film would be a phenomenal success that would revolutionise modern day Indian film music. The name of the 25-year old composer was A. R. Rahman. And the rest, as they say, is history.


Downloads >

As an Arranger/Keyboard Player >
TV Ads >
TV Signature Tunes >
Albums >