A. R. Rahman

A.R.Rahman
Rahman is the only son of R. K. Sekhar, who was a composer, arranger and conductor for Malayalam films. His father died when Rahman was nine years old, and his family used to rent out musical equipment to make ends meet, something they found very difficult. During those hard times, a Sufi (Muslim) saint cured Rahman's sister of an unexplainable illness. This led Dileep to convert to Islam, changing his name to Allah Rakha Rahman.

At the age of 11, Rahman joined the troupe of Indian composer Ilaiyaraaja as a keyboardist. He later played on the orchestra of M. S. Viswanathan and Ramesh Naidu, and accompanied Zakir Hussain and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan on world tours. The experience allowed him to obtain a scholarship to Trinity College at Oxford University, where he received a degree in Western
Allah Rakha Rahman born on January 6, 1966 as A. S. Dileep Kumar in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is a composer, best known for composing film scores and soundtracks.

In 1991, Rahman began his own studio (attached to his house), called the Panchathan Record Inn. He initially composed music for use in advertisements, the title music of Indian Television channels and music in documentaries, among other projects. Rahman was, at first, hesitant about composing music for the Indian film industry primarily because most film makers at the time used songs as "fillers" - a means by which the audience was given a break from the movie's plot. In 1991 he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam, who offered Rahman the job as composer for his upcoming Tamil language film Roja, at a price of Rs. 25,000. Rahman accepted, and the movie's superhit debut made him a household name in Tamil Nadu virtually overnight and led Rahman to receive the Rajat Kamal award for best music director at the Indian National Film Awards, the first time ever by a debutant. Rahman has since then gone on to win the award 3 more times (for Minsaara Kanavu (Electric Dreams, Tamil) in 1997, Lagaan (Tax, Hindi) in 2002 and Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek, Tamil) in 2003), the most ever by any composer.



When Rahman arrived on the Indian music scene with his first film Roja, he brought about a transformation of film music. Roja was a massive hit, and Rahman followed it up with a number of other extremely popular films, including Bombay, Rangeela, Dil Se and Taal. Rangeela, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, marked Rahman's debut in Hindi films. The huge sales of these albums prompted movie producers to take film music more seriously.
Lord Lloyd-Webber with A. R. RahmanRahman's work is also unique in the fact that his collaborations with a few film directors have always resulted in hugely successful albums. In particular, he has worked with Mani Ratnam on eight movies (until 2004) (see list of movies by Mani Ratnam featuring A R Rahman), all of which have been musical superhits. Also notable is his collaboration with the director S. Shankar (Gentleman, Kadhalan, Indian, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Nayak, Boys and Sivaji).

He made an album Vande Mataram (1996) on India's national song, singing the title song on the album. He followed it up with an album called Jana gana mana, a huge conglomeration of performances by all the leading exponents/artists of Indian classical music.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, a well known composer of musicals, was impressed with Rahman's unique style and therefore hired him to compose his maiden stage production Bombay Dreams (2002). This play was well received in England and opened him up to new vistas in Hollywood. Furthermore, Rahman, along with the Finnish folk music band Värttinä, composed the music for The Lord of the Rings theatre production, which opened in Toronto on March 23, 2006.

The following article was written in TIME magazine about Rahman's achievements. His first movie album Roja was listed in TIME magazine's "Top 10 Movie Soundtracks of All Time".[1]

In addition to influencing western audiences, Rahman also impressed eastern audiences with his music so much that he was tapped by Chinese director He Ping to compose the score and soundtrack for the Chinese film Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003.[2] The music of this film was very much appreciated in Asia and in India.

On May 23rd 2006, a two-disc album soundtrack, titled Introducing A.R. Rahman, was released by Times Square Records, featuring 25 songs he composed from Tamil film soundtracks spanning 1993-2001. The compillation soundtrack was well received. In addition to this, Rahman performed at the Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre in July of 2006, with Indian singers Sukhwinder Singh, Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam, as well as American performing groups Raagapella and Global Rhythms, to a sell out crowd.

His latest work includes Bose - The Forgotten Hero, Swades, Mangal Pandey - The Rising, Rang De Basanti, Sillunu Oru Kaadhal and Guru. He is currently working on Shankar's next venture Sivaji: The Boss, and on one of Shyam Benegal's next ventures, Chamki Chameli, which is set for release in 2007.
Rahman is a recipient of the Padma Shri and is known around the world as the "Mozart from Madras".[3]

Source : Wikipedia

50 Cent, A Biography About The Man

You know 50 Cent by his music but in this 50 Cent biography you will get to know more about the man and where he came from. With so many obstacles in his way, this individual was determined to make it big. Now, 50 Cent is the largest figure in the hip hop world, dominating rap for the last two years. So, we can’t get everything into this 50 Cent biography that we would like to, but getting to know where this man came from will give you an idea of what makes him so very real to so many.



Many rap stars out there have no idea what it is like to experience the difficulty of living life on the streets. Sure, they write songs but they don’t necessarily experience what they are writing about. But, 50 Cent has. He grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Queens. He saw crime happening around him everywhere from drugs to stabbings and even fatal shootings. Living in this area and seeing what he saw, he was able to portray a very clear picture of the hardest cities in the United States from a first hand point of view, something that his fellow rappers simply could not. And, he got a name for himself by telling it.

In this 50 Cent biography, we still want to talk about all that this man has accomplished. Anyone in circumstances like this has to be nothing short of extraordinary to pull through and end up on top as he has done. His grandmother raised him because his mother had died when he was only eight and his father had left. He turned to a life of hustling where he ended up in prison. Then, came his break. Deciding to turn his life around, 50 Cent took the higher road that led to a rap career. Working with Run DMC and Jam Master Jay he developed his skills.

This 50 Cent biography only touches on the life that this remarkable man has led. And, it hasn’t stopped yet. Working with Eminem as well as a number of other hip hop artists of high stature, his career continues to climb. You can count on seeing 50 for years to come.

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Ghanshyam Das Birla

Picture of Birla with Mahatma



Born: April 10, 1894
Achievement: Laid the foundations of the Birla Empire; founder of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Ghanshyam Das Birla is considered as a doyen of Indian Industry. He was the man who laid the foundations of the Birla Empire. G.D. Birla was a multi-faceted personality. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and advised Gandhiji on economic policies. He was the most important pre-Independence contributor to the Indian National Congress. Ghanshyam Das Birla was the founder of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He is also popularly known as the builder of Birla Mandirs.

Born on April 10, 1894, G.D. Birla, was a native of Pilani. His grandfather Shiv Narayan Birla was a traditional marwari moneylender. Ghanshyam Das Birla entered the business arena during the time of First World War. He established a cotton mill in Sabzi Mandi, and later on established Keshoram Cotton Mills. Along with cotton mills he diversified to jute business and shifted his base to Calcutta city in Bengal, the world's largest jute producing region. He established Birla Jute Mills in Bengal, much to the consternation of established European merchants.

In 1919, with an investment of Rs. 50 lakhs, the Birla Brothers Limited was formed and a mill was set up in Gwalior. In 1930s, G.D. Birla set up Sugar and Paper mills. In 1940s, he ventured into the territory of cars and established Hindustan Motors. After independence, Ghanshyam Das Birla invested in tea and textiles through a series of acquisitions of erstwhile European companies. He also expanded and diversified into cement, chemicals, rayon and steel tubes.

Ghanshyam Das Birla also founded several educational institutions. Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS) Pilani has today evolved into one of India's best engineering schools. He also established many temples, planetariums, and hospitals. Ghanshyam Das Birla died in 1983 at the age of 90. In his honour, G.D. Birla award for scientific Research has been established to encourage scientists for their contribution in the various fields of scientific Research.

A Short Biography of Dhirubhai Ambani on Reliance Communications Ltd

The second son of a school teacher, Dhirubhai was born in 1932 in the village of Chorwad in Gujarat in circumstances that can best be described as modest. Driven by hardship and want, he had to drop out of school early. In 1949, at the age of 17, he went to Aden (now Yemen) in search of opportunity, and worked as a dispatch clerk for A. Besse & Co. A couple of years later, the company became a distributor for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden. It was here that he dreamed of setting up and owning a refinery, which he later realised with his petrochemicals venture. He returned to India in 1958 to launch his first business venture, a spice trading company named Reliance Commercial Corporation. In 1962, Dhirubhai identified an emerging opportunity in yarn trading and shifted to the new business. Three years later, he changed the name of his company to Reliance Textile Industries Limited. In 1966, he purchased land in Naroda, Gujarat, to set up a textile mill. In 1975, a technical team from the World Bank recognised the Naroda mill as one of the best composite textile mills in India and certified it as ‘excellent even by developed country standards’.In 1977, the company went public. At the time of the Reliance Textiles IPO, participation in the Indian capital markets was largely limited to a small but influential elite which dabbled in a handful of stocks. The great majority of India’s middle class chose to stay away. Dhirubhai’s decision to prefer the capital markets over banks as the primary source of funding for his ambitious expansion plans, was as daring as it was unprecedented.In the event, The Reliance IPO was an unlikely success. Against all odds, Dhirubhai managed to convince a sufficiently large number of sceptical middle class investors to put their money, and faith, in what was then a small, relatively unknown company. The subsequent growth and success of Reliance and its philosophy of generously rewarding shareholders rapidly gave Dhirubhai an iconic status in the Indian financial markets. Under Dhirubhai’s charismatic leadership, the Annual General Meetings (AGM) of Reliance took on the character of large public spectacles. Typically held in large public arenas, and attended by thousands of adoring shareholders, the Reliance AGM became a day to remember in the annual corporate calendar of India. In 1986, the Reliance AGM held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai, was attended by as many as 30,000 stockholders—a record in India’s corporate history. By the mid-80s, Dhirubhai had become something of a living legend, widely hailed by peers and critics alike as one of the greatest corporate visionaries in the history of post-Independent India.
But Dhirubhai was never one to rest on his laurels. In the early 80s, he had taken the first important step in strategic backward integration for Reliance with the commissioning of the Patalganga plant which initially manufactured polyester filament yarn and polyester staple fibre. In 1991, he set up Reliance Hazira, for the manufacture of petrochemicals—the next link in the backward integration chain. At the time, Reliance Hazira represented the single largest investment made by a private sector group in India at a single location. Meanwhile, Dhirubhai had firmed up plans of setting up a massive grassroots refinery—the next big leap in his overall strategic roadmap for Reliance. Conceived as the world’s largest grassroots refinery at the time, Jamnagar in Gujarat was to have an annual capacity of 27 million tonnes. In the face of formidable challenges, including a massive cyclone that flattened the project site mid-way through construction, Reliance commissioned the Jamnagar facility in 1999. It was a fully integrated refinery, complete with a dedicated port and a captive supply of power. The refinery was not only commissioned ahead of schedule, but also set up at a cost that was significantly power than the prevailing global benchmark for a project of such magnitude. It was one of Dhirubhai’s great dreams in life to see ordinary Indians enjoy the economic benefits of being able to access affordable yet world class telecommunications infrastructure. He wanted Reliance to spearhead a communications revolution that would dramatically cut down the cost of connectivity, and propel India into the digital age. His ultimate ambition: To make the cost of a phone call cheaper than that of a post card. It was therefore entirely logical for Reliance to enter the telecommunications space when the sector was opened up for private participation in the 1990s. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Reliance Communications is India’s largest information and communications services provider with over 20 million subscribers, and offers the full range of integrated telecom services—at prices that are, by far, the lowest anywhere in the world. Dhirubhai left for his heavenly abode on July 6, 2002.