Rahman turns 45, looks forward to a promising year

Rahman has already bagged his second Golden Globe nomination and is also in the shortlist of Oscar hopefuls this year.

The only Indian to pocket two Oscars, two Grammys and a Golden Globe, Rahman took the international music scene by storm with his award-winning tracks in Danny Boyle's rags-to-riches story "Slumdog Millionaire".

Boyle repeated Rahman a second time for his film "127 Hours", which is already creating Oscar buzz.

And as he celebrates his birthday, Rahman and his millions of fans are looking forward for a repeat of his golden run.

Though 2010 saw many achievements coming Rahman's way, it also saw his biggest debacle in the much-panned Commonwealth Games anthem 'Swagatham'. The musician, who reportedly charged a whopping Rs 5 crore to compose the track, later apologised to his fans for disappointing them.

He also faced criticism for his film music with many saying that he has become repetitive.
Rahman, who redefined contemporary Indian music by blending Western and classical influences into film music, has sold more than 150 million copies of his work comprising more than 100 film soundtracks and albums across over half a dozen languages.

These include landmark scores in "Roja", "Bombay", "Dil Se", "Taal", "Lagaan", and more recently, "Jodhaa Akbar", "Delhi 6" and "Raavan".

Hailed by Time magazine as the 'Mozart of Madras', Rahman has already worked with major international stars of his time. His latest collaborations are with British singer-songwriter Dido. Earlier, he worked with chart-topping international artists like Pussycat Dolls, Akon.

He also joined voices with some of the biggest names in the music industry like Celine Dion, Lionel Richie, Barbara Streisand and Kanye West to record a cover of Michael Jackson's peace anthem "We Are The World".

Rahman has not looked back since he got his first big break in Mani Ratnam's 1992 film "Roja", which won him his first national award, the first time ever by a debutante. Since then, Rahman has gone on to win the National Award three more times, the most ever by any music composer.

However, his first full-fledged Bollywood project was Ram Gopal Varma's "Rangeela" and he went on to give music in "Dil Se", "1947 Earth", "Taal", "Lagaan", "Guru", "Rang De Basanti", "Jodhaa Akbar", "Ghajini", "Raavan", "Jhootha Hi Sahi" and "Robot".

Rahman debuted on the global music scene in 2001 with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical "Bombay Dreams", which won him immense international fame. He also composed for the stage adaptation of J R R Tolkien's "Lord Of The Rings".

He also scored the music for the Hollywood productions, "Elizabeth - The Golden Age", "Slumdog Millionaire", "Couples Retreat" and the Chinese movie, "Warriors of Heaven & Earth" and Boyle's "127 Hours".

Rahman is all set to release his first international pop single, a collaboration with Dido soon.

He has also scored for upcoming films -- Imtiaz Ali's "Rockstar" and Shekhar Kapur's "Paani".

From composing jingles on small screen, Rahman has indeed come a long way.