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Born as A.S. Dileep Kumar in a musically affluent family in Chennai on 6 January 1966, he changed his name to Allah Rakha Rahman after his family converted to Islam in the late 1980’s.

Rahman was forced to shoulder the responsibilities of his family at the age of nine after his father R.K. Shekhar, who was a composer, arranger and conductor for Malayalam movies, died due to illness. The music genius came to the limelight with his music for a Bombay Dyeing ad and Leo Coffee in 1980’s which became very popular.

“We’ve been waiting for this for 80 years,” said Rahman recently in The Hindu, the Indian daily newspaper. “I think it will create a bridge between Western and Indian audiences, and lead to more people exploring Indian music.”

While Rahman first came to the attention of Western audiences with his film music for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and stage shows Bombay Dreams and The Lord of the Rings, his already stellar profile will go into overdrive should he win. Numerous Hollywood offers have been coming his way since the film’s release.

Just as in a Bollywood film, in Slumdog Millionaire the music is almost as important as the imagery and the narrative, and is central to its ambience of grit and grandeur. “We wanted it edgy, upfront. Danny [Boyle, who directed] wanted it loud,” says Rahman.

Until now, the 43-year-old Rahman was often seen as a kind of Indian Andrew Lloyd Webber, inventive and full of melodic facility, often veering into the middle of the road. Lloyd Webber compares Rahman to Paul McCartney.

The rags-to-riches story about a boy from one of the Mumbai’s teeming slums competing on a TV game show has been nominated for best director, best adapted screenplay and best picture at the Academy Awards, and in seven other categories.

“Rah Rah Rahman” screamed a front-page headline in the Times of India newspaper, a leading English-language daily, referring to the three Oscar nominations for the film’s Indian music composer, A.R. Rahman.

Hindustan Times, another English daily, dubbed it the “Perfect 10.”

The cast and crew of “Slumdog,” in Mumbai for the film’s Indian premiere on Thursday, seemed overwhelmed by the attention.

“It’s incredible isn’t it? For us to be here, premiering the film on the night of the Oscar nominations is just incredible,” producer Christian Colson told Reuters, shouting to be heard above the sound of traditional Indian drums and members of the cast dancing on the red carpet.