AR Rahman receives Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award

“As a producer, I was the first who approached Rahman to compose music for Hindi movies”, he added. He also credited Mangeshkar family for upholding musical traditions across generations.

Pandit Hridaynath said that Rahman has made the country proud with his outstanding contribution to music.

Talking about Rahman’s dedication to his craft, Ghai said: “He worked 70 nights on the music of “Taal” and proved he is the best musician”.

The filmmaker also shared a 12-second video online of Rahman in which he is seen saying how people quickly associate him with the 1999 hit film “Taal” and that “it’s like a rubber stamp”. “He is not only a big celebrity, but also a handsome soul”. “Rahman won the Oscar for Best Original Score and Best Original Song, sharing it with lyricist Gulzar, for Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire” in 2009.

Hindustani music expert Vishwa Mohan and music composer Ricky Kej, both recipients of the prestigious Grammy award also took part in the award function. India’s most respected actor Amitabh Bachchan and veteran Bollywood actress Sulochana are the other two recipients of his award.

Ghai on Tuesday tweeted that he felt honoured to confer the award to the four times National Award winning musician. He has recently composed for Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika Padukone starrer romantic-comedy “Tamasha”, directed by Imtiaz Ali.