AR Rahman's two Oscar wins for Slumdog Millionaire in 2009 paved the way for numerous international collaborations, as well as the composer's most recent experiments with technology
On February 22, 2009, at the 81st Academy Awards, when AR Rahman won his first two Oscars—for Original Score and Original Song—for his work in the Danny Boyle-directed Slumdog Millionaire, quite a few were left scratching their heads back home in India. Even for the most die-hard Rahman fan (or perhaps especially for them), ‘Jai Ho’ was hardly the music composer’s best. Despite winning eight Oscars, the film itself had been received with muted enthusiasm in India, with the Indian Express calling it “Salaam Bombay on speed”, referring to Mira Nair’s 1988 classic, while others were revolted by what has come to be called “poverty porn”.
(This story appears in the 31 May, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)