A.R.Rahman:The Golden Globe man

Rahman has done it again. He becomes the 1st Indian to win the Golden globe award, for his path breaking work in 'slumdog millionaire'. It is by no means his best work till date. He had given far more better works in many other Indian movies, but the fact that this one came in a hollywood movie made all the difference. In a way, this is a debut award for him in Hollywood as this is his first film there. The soundtrack of 'Warriors of heaven and earth' was not considered some years back because it was a chinese movie. His crossover started with the broadway musical 'Bombay Dreams'. He took it to the next level by composing for the mammoth stage adaptation of 'Lord of the rings'. Then his songs were featured in a couple of movies, most notably 'chaiyya chaiyya' in the spike lee movie 'Inside man'. Around that time, 'Roja' was selected by the Time magazine as one of the 10 best soundtracks of the last century. He conducted the Birmingham symphony orchestra some years back. The video of 'Pray for me brother' won wide critical acclaim. At the same time his Indian soundtracks were also getting wildly popular in the west. Most notably, the 'Bombay theme', which was used in more than 20 ADs across various countries, the most famous one being the French one featuring Zidane. His international concerts were sold out affairs with the foreign crowd merrily singing along the Hindi and Tamil lyrics. Then came the underdog film 'Slumdog Millionaire' and along with it a new legion of fans the world over waking up to the brilliant tunes of this short man hailed as the 'Mozart of Madras' by none other than Andrew Lloyd Webber. And, a truckload of awards followed, in which the Golden globe is the 6th one. Many more are to come soon. The young guy who made us all go 'WOOOOOW with 'Roja' has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. Today he finds himself in the same league as the legendary composers John williams, Ennio Morricone and Hans Zimmer. Its another matter that he has sold a million more records than all these men taken together. He's featured in the list of the top 25 all time greatest selling artists, above the likes of Metallica and Iron Maiden. Wishing this one man army great success in the future too. Hope he churns out more slumdogs. Now, lets all wait for the elusive '1st oscar for India'. And yeah, let me scream out once more...'Rahman Ki Jai!!!!Jai Ho!!!!'

The way he ended the acceptance speech by dedicating the award to "the billions of Indians" was heartening. Today is a great day for diehard Rahmaniacs like me to see their idol as part of the headlines world over. Morrow, we can see his smiling face on all the national newspapers. What more can a Rahman fan ask for?

your crusader Praveen