Revealed! Know how AR Rahman got his Muslim name ‘Rahman’

AR Rahman was born into a family of musicians. The maestro started his career with Mani Ratnam’s Roja in 1992, which immediately brought the singer-composer into the limelight. In his three-decade career, Rahman has created original scores for more than 145 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, English, Persian, and Mandarin films.

AR Rahman, originally named AS Dilip Kumar was born in a Hindu family in Tamil Nadu. However, a significant turning point in his life led him to embrace Islam. It was during a critical period when his father was battling cancer that Rahman’s path intersected with that of a Sufi saint. This encounter not only resulted in the miraculous healing of his father but also sparked a profound spiritual transformation within Rahman himself.

In a conversation with Karan Thapar in 2000, Rahman said, “There was a Sufi who was treating him towards the end days before he died. We later met him after 7-8 years and that’s when we led another spiritual path which gave us peace.”