It is Henry Ford who said, “Anyone who stops learning is old — whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” While it isn’t a crime not to know who AR Rahman is, one must also know icons who fill each cell of your body with pride are hard to come by. A true legend of his craft, it is never late to know a thing or two about the gifted man who has made every Indian proud. Here are 10 facts that could help a complete stranger to know the giant AR Rahman is, and why he is a true emotion that bonds the entire country.Winner of six National Film Awards, two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, fifteen Filmfare Awards and seventeen Filmfare Awards South, AR Rahman is fondly called “the Mozart of Madras.”(Photo | AP)In 2012, AR Rahman revealed that he was invited for a dinner at the White House by the family of the President of the United States. (Photo | AP)Considering his professional experience ARR was given the scholarship to study at Oxford’s Trinity College, where he received a degree in Western classical music. (Photo | PTI)AR Rahman is the first Asian to win two Oscars in the same year. (File Photo)In 2013, a street in Markham, Ontario, Canada, was named after him to honour his contributions to the world of music. (Photo | Twitter)In 2000, a French TV commercial for Volvic starring football icon Zinedine Zidane used a piece of theme music composed by ARR for the movie ‘Bombay’. (File Photo)In 2011, GQ (formerly called Gentlemen’s Quarterly), an American international monthly men’s magazine, elected him Legend of the Year. (File Photo)In 2003, ARR-composed ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ from ‘Dil Se’ was voted 9th in “The World’s Top Ten” songs of all time by BBC World Service. (Photo | PTI)ARR composed Airtel’s signature tune, which had over 150 million downloads by 2019 – the most in the world in the mobile music genre.(Photo|Facebook.com/arrahman, BTOS PRoductions)In 2009, Rahman’s soundtrack for ‘Lagaan’ was ranked No. 45 on Amazon.com’s “The 100 Greatest World Music Albums of All Time” list. (Photo | Youtube screengrab)11 / 13‘Roja’, ARR’s debut soundtrack, was listed in TIME’s “10 Best Soundtracks” of all time by film critic Richard Corliss in 2005. (File Photo)‘Heroes get remembered, but legends never die!’: Max Holloway (File Photo)
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Galleries> Entertainment / July 22nd, 2021
