A.R. Rahman Announces World Tour

A.R. Rahman, best known for his work on the score for the Academy Award-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire," announced today (Mar. 4) that he will embark on a world tour this summer.

The "A.R. Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour" kicks off June 11 at the Nassau Coliseum in New York and will span 16 major cities worldwide.

For the trek, Rahman is collaborating with creative director Amy Tinkman, who has worked to create concerts for Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and Mariah Carey. The tour will not only feature Rahman's music, but also dance arrangements and acrobatics inspired by his native India. A press release described the concert as a "theatrical experience" utilizing "new technologies."

The announcement comes after Rahman took part in the 2010 remake of "We Are The World" to benefit Haiti.

Performances on the A.R. Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour will include songs from Slumdog Millionaire as well as the Indian films Lagaan, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Dil Se, Rang De Basanti and Roja'.

Additional dates have yet to be announced.

Here are the tour dates for the A.R. Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour:

Jun. 11: Uniondale, N.Y. (Nassau Coliseum)
Jun. 12: Atlantic City, N.J. (Boardwalk Hall Arena)
Jun. 13: Washington, D.C. (Patriot Center)
Jun. 18: Chicago, Ill. (Sears Centre Arena)
Jun. 19: Detroit, Mich. (Pontiac Silverdome)
Jun. 20: Toronto, Ontario (Air Canada Centre)
Jun. 26: San Francisco, Calif. (Oracle Arena)
Jun. 27: Los Angeles, Calif. (The Forum)
Jul. 2: Dallas, Texas (American Airlines Center)
Jul. 3: Houston, Texas (Houston Toyota Center)
Jul. 9: Amsterdam, Netherlands (Ohio Arena)
Jul. 10: Paris, France (Bercy)
Jul. 18: Oslo, Norway (Oslo Spektrum)
Jul. 23: Glasgow, Scotland (SECC)
Jul. 24: Manchester, England (M.E.N. Arena)
Jul. 25: London, England (O2 Arena)
Jul. 26: London, England (Wembley Stadium)

A.R.Rahman ranks 5th Most Trusted Indian

Former president A P J Abdul Kalam and industrialist Ratan Tata top the list of 100 most trusted Indians while artist M F Husain is at 91 and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is at the very bottom, a survey conducted for Reader's Digest has revealed.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ranked seventh, one place below chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand, Sachin Tendulkar is at number eight and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen at 10th place along with Wipro chairman Azim Premji and Indian Space Research Organisation M Madhavan Nair.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is ranked 29th in the survey published in the March edition ofReader's Digest that hit the stands Tuesday

Others in the top 10 list of India's most trusted Indians are former police officer Kiran Bedi (3rd), Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy (4th), music composer A.R. rahman (5th) and cartoonist R.K. Laxman (9th).

Among India's most trusted professions, teachers are at the top, followed rather surprisingly by firefighters and farmers follow at number three.

Scientists and members of the armed forces share fourth position, with doctors at sixth, pilots at seventh, pilots at seventh, surgeons at eighth, nurses at ninth and engineers at 10th.


At the bottom end of the scale of 40 most trusted professions are religious leaders (35), lawyers (36), police officers (37), government officials (38), realtors (39) and politicians (40).

"The survey was conducted online by market research firm Digital Edge that sent out 5,000 invitations, with 761 people responding by the cutoff date," Digest editor Mohan Sivanandan told IANS on the phone from Mumbai.

"The survey covered 30 cities, with two-thirds of the respondents being under 35, possessing a bachelor's degree and three-fourth's male," he added.

A.R.Rahman bags his 25th Filmfare Award

A.R. Rahman won the best music director award for the film Delhi 6 at the 55th Filmfare Awards in Mumbai. This is his 25th Filmfare Award, the highest ever for any single artiste.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan bagged the best actor and best actress awards respectively at the 55th Filmfare Awards ceremony on Saturday night. Both the actors were chosen for the top honours for their wonderful performances in their film Paa where they played mother and son.

Aamir Khan's film 3 Idiots was declared the best film while Rajkumar Hirani claimed the best director award for the same movie.

Mohit Chauhan won the award for the best male playback singer for the song “Masakali” from the same movie.

Kavita Seth and Rekha Bhardwaj shared the female playback singer honours. Kavita was awarded for the song “Ik tara” from the movie Wake Up Sid while Rekha won the trophy for the song "Genda phool" from the movie Delhi 6.

Shahrukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan, who hosted the star-studded event, once again brought down the house with their funny one-liners. Shahid Kapoor paid tribute to the legendary pop singer Michael Jackson with a terrific dance performance.

AR RAHMAN-the NDTV's Indian of the Year 2009

Legendary musician A R Rahman received the Music Icon of the Year award at the NDTV's Indian of the Year 2009 awards.

Megastars Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan were among those honoured with the awards at a glittering function.

Bachchan, who first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the angry young man of Bollywood cinema and has since become one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema, was presented with the Icon of 21 years of Entertainment award.

Khan, who had recently got embroiled into a controversy over his comment on non-inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL, also got the Icon of 21 years of Entertainment award along with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in the Indian film industry.

The 'Mozart of Madras' began his film scoring career in the early 1990s. He has won 13 Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, two Grammy Awards and two Academy Awards.

Actor Ranbir Kapoor, who has successfully achieved the tag of being one of the most bankable young stars with two consecutive hits Wake Up Sid and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, got the Male Entertainer of the Year award.

Priyanka Chopra, who bagged her first National Award for her performance in Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion (2008), received the Female Entertainer of the Year Award.

Director Anurag Kashyap got the Special Jury Award for his critically acclaimed films.

Considered as one of the most versatile and prolific filmmakers in contemporary Hindi cinema, Kashyap had hogged limelight and courted controversy for his film on 1993 Bombay bombings Black Friday. He has also directed critically acclaimed movies -- No Smoking, Dev D and Gulaal.

Director Karan Johar got Social Networking Icon of the Year award for introducing Bollywood to tweeter.