For a lot of folks, the all-singing, all-dancing Bollywood blowout at 2008’s Oscars ceremony was an introduction to A.R. Rahman—the celebrated composer behind the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. Dubbed the “Mozart of Madras†by Time magazine, Rahman (sadly) does not wear a preposterous wig, but he did train classically and joined his first band at age 11, and he wrote jingles and TV themes before going on to score movies. Throughout the past decade, Rahman has sold more than 150 million records, played the White House and written the theme song for the Free Hugs Campaign.
As befits Rahman’s global celebrity, his Jai Ho tour is designed by Amy Tinkham, the over-the-top mastermind behind Britney and Mariah spectacles, and features Cirque du Soleil acrobats, a Mongolian contortionist and 3-D light mapping (no, us neither). The show will be flashy on a Vegas scale, but because it’s Rahman, you can also expect the music to be bold and big-hearted.