The Little Master of Music, also referred to as Mozart of Madras adds one more feather to his crown, this time the Grammy, definitely well deserved, though many of us would debate whether Jai-ho was his best of the work in his career of nearly 2 decades. Anyway, better late than never…. 

Given a break by director Mani Ratnam in 1991 to score the music for ‘Roja’, Allah Rakha Rahman, went on to become a composer whose appeal cut across linguistic barriers. An impressive track record of 13 Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, two Grammy Awards, and two Academy Awards.

His recent success reminds me of a piece of conversation I had with my Mamaji (55, then) several years ago when Rehman’s Roja was out in the market. Mamaji, as any other old man, with strong preconceived notions and a firm believer in a popular and useless expression Old is Gold, quite expectedly said, “These types don’t last long, whereas, music of our times is immortal ” to which I had quietly replied “ Music of your times will live as long as you live. Nothing is immortal, what matters is uniqueness, variety and obviously the impact”

Nearly two decades later Rehman still has enough ears (in fact, many more) (and more importantly has not been stereotyped with any genre) which I guess is a long stint considering the rapidly changing taste of music. I don’t know much about different genres of music and I don’t even know if Indian music has any such genres. Rehman with his unique tunes and beats and rhythm certainly redefined the genres if at all they exist and created his own.

 I am sure Rehman will continue to make good music, achieve new milestones and win new accolades. “All the Best Rehman and We are proud of you”.