Music maestro AR Rahman turns 50: Here is 10 lesser known fact about him

Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman, known for his humility as much as for his musical genius, turns 50 on Friday. While you may know most of his tracks by heart, it is time to celebrate his birthday by acquainting yourself with some unknown facts about his life! 

# Rahman was born in Chennai on January 6, 1966. The musical genius lost his musician father R K Sekar when he was only nine years and had to support the family.

# Starting his career by composing ad jingles, Rahman was approached by Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for his Tamil film “Roja” when he was just 17-years-old.

# Indian Music Maestro AR Rahman's actual name was Dileep Kumar and his wife’s name is Saira Banu.

# A street in Markham, Ontario, Canada, has been named in his honour in November 2013.

# Rahman and his son, Ameen share the same birth date, that is 6th January.

# In the Limca Book of Records 2007, Rahman holds “Indian of the Year for Contribution to Popular Music” Award. He is also the first Asian to have won 2 Oscars in the same year.

# Airtel's signature tune, composed by Rahman, is the world's most downloaded mobile music with over 150 million downloads.

# AR Rahman  became one of the world’s top-selling recording artists by 2004; after he sold almost 200 million cassettes and 150 million recordings of his soundtracks 

# He has been honoured with the Padma Bhushan award and Padma Shri award from the Government of India

# He has won 2 academy awards, 2 Grammy awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe,4 national awards, 15 Filmfare awards and 14 Filmfare awards south, as of 2014. Out of 138 award nominations, he has won 117

# The music maestro of Indian Cinema does not stop to amaze his fans, in reel or real life!