Born as A.S. Dileep Kumar, Rahman converted to Islam and was called Allah Rakha Rahman. He has won two academy awards for Slumdog Millionaire. Though the composition of Slumdog were worthy of the Oscars that he got, there are far better compositions of A.R. Rahman that we all have been witness to. We bring you the Top 5 Music Compositions of Bollywood music director A.R. Rahman on his 49th Birthday. We have chosen 1 song from 5 movie albums composed by Rahman.

Roja

Rahman's debut filmi composition, the songs of Roja were superhit in the South and were received positively in the rest of the country when they were dubbed in Hindi and released across India. Rahman's music stood out from the rest. Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin Lalit, Anu Malik were nowhere in the competition when Rahman stepped in with his unique music compositions. Roja was released in 1992 and won Rahman the National Film Award and Filmfare Award for Best Music Direction. He also won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director.

Bombay

Bombay was a huge blockbuster and is regarded as one of the most acclaimed Tamil films of the 90s. The Hindi version of the film earned INR140 million (equivalent to INR580 million or US$8.7 million in 2016), as reported by Box Office India which was phenomenal for a dubbed film. A. R. Rahman won the southern Filmfare Award for Best Music for Bombay.

Dil Se

Dil Se was screened at the Era New Horizons Film Festival and the Helsinki International Film Festival The film went on to win the Netpac Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, two National Film Awards, and six Filmfare Awards. A.R. Rahman won the filmfare award for Best Music for this movie. The song Chaiyya Chaiyya is still considered as one of the best Bollywood songs of all time.

Sapnay

Sapnay was the hindi version of Minsara Kanavu, it was merely dubbed and released in Hindi. The film garnered four National Film Awards, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and a Filmfare Award South. Rahman won the South Filmfare award in 1996 for this album.

Rangeela

The soundtrack featured 7 songs composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Mehboob and an instrumental theme song. The audio was released in September 1995 by Rahman's mother Kareema and the soundtrack proved immensely popular upon release. It is listed in almost all lists of best Bollywood soundtracks. The soundtrack fetched Rahman two filmfare awards, Filmfare Best Music Director Award and Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent.