Rags to Riches story

What a moment for India and Indians ..Slumdog Millionaire has won 8 Oscars today ! Of the eight awards,A R Rahman, the magician from madras, the music sensation and one who has changed the music scene in India won 2 awards !!!

Like the film itself, A R Rahman's story itself is a rags to riches story. He is a self made man and a real genius; Lot of inspiration to draw from ..

Born A.S. Dileep Kumar to a Tamil Hindu family, his father R.K. Shekhar, a composer who directed music for Malayalam movies, died when he was just nine. The family was forced to rent out musical equipment. Two years later, the 11-year-old budding maestro joined noted composer Ilayaraja's troupe as a keyboardist and computer programmer to support his mother and three sisters.

After working with several renowned composers like Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy, Zakir Hussain and L. Shankar, he set out on his own to compose jingles and scores for popular Indian television features and has composed more than 300 jingles.

During this period, he also earned a degree in western classical music from the Trinity College of Music, London and went on to set up his own in-house studio called Panchathan record-inn at Chennai, which is said to be Asia's most sophisticated and hi-tech studio.

In 1989, Dileep Kumar converted to Islam along with his family due to personal reasons. He became A.R. Rahman.

JAI Ho !!!! Jai Ho !!!!