In India, a country of a billion inhabitants, where film and pop music are one, A.R. Rahman, 43, dominates the music industry so totally that he has supplied the sound track for a whole generation. He enjoys the godlike devotion of India’s youth, but everyone from the street child who sweeps train platforms to the middle-aged doctor in Mumbai’s posh Malabar Hill hums his tunes.

A.R.Rehmaan With Middlesex University Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Driscoll

Born in Chennai (formerly Madras) and raised on Tamil movies and music, Rahman converted to Sufism — a mystical form of Islam — in the late 1980s. It is easy to hear these influences in his work, but his genius lies in tying many forms of music together to make a sound that is at once familiar and new. He first gained widespread notice for Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Roja (1992), then branched out into Hindi films and has succeeded in making Indian film music a global phenomenon. He has worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber and with Shekhar Kapur on Elizabeth and has influenced other gifted directors like Baz Luhrmann. This year he won two Oscars, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for giving Slumdog Millionaire its frenetic sound.

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