Text: Ronjita Kulkarni
Photographs: Jewella C Miranda
Design: Uday Kuckian

The highlight of the concert was a poem written by President APJ Abdul Kalam, recited by Amitabh Bachchan. Kalam had reportedly asked Rahman to set music to his words a year ago. The poem speaks about a making a better world if one believes in oneself.

The poem was converted into a song and lyricist Mehboob (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) penned the Hindi version.

The concert saw children dance to Rahman's music, including a musical piece from his Chinese film, Warriors Of Heaven And Earth. Rahman also rendered some patriotic songs like Ma Tujhe Salaam and Vande Materam.

Rahman's concerts in India and abroad have almost always played to full houses.

He has even performed with the king of pop Michael Jackson in Munich, along with dancers Shobhana and Prabhudeva. The trio, who performed to the song Ekam satyam, shared the stage with personalities like Luciano Pavarotti, Stevie Wonder, Alan Parsons, Vanessa Mae and Boyzone.

Hariharan sang the popular Bharat humko jaan se pyara hain while Mahalaxmi Iyer sang Chhoti si asha. Both the songs were from Mani Ratnam's Roja, which earned Rahman his first National Award.

It is thanks to Rahman's score that Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Bombay Dreams is the biggest success in London in recent times. The musical will now premiere in New York's Broadway with a preview on March 28. It will release on Broadway a month later.

It was a children's troupe from Rajasthan who finally stole the show, when they sang Damadam mast kalander to the beat of stone chips.

Rahman is busy with Mani Ratnam's Yuva, Ketan Mehta's The Rising and Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades.

He has also made waves abroad with his music for the Chinese film, Warriors Of Heaven And Earth. Rahman will next score music for the stage version of the megahit series The Lord Of The Rings.