Part 1

Childhood

Allah Rakha Rahman was born A.S.Dileep Kumar on the 6th of January in the year 1966, in Madras, to a musically affluent family.
His father K.A.Sekhar was an arranger and conductor in Malayalam movies and had worked under the likes of Salil Chowdhary and Devarajan.
Dileep started learning the piano at the tender age of four.




Background

At the age of 9, his father passed away following a mysterious illness with rumours abounding that he was the victim of black magic by his rivals.
The pressure of supporting his family fell on Dileep.
At the age of 11, he joined Illaiyaraja's troupe as a keyboard player.
It was his mother Kareema Begum who encouraged him to follow in his father's footsteps.
But all this had an adverse affect on his education.
Infrequent attendance and an unaccommodative management forced him to shift schools from the prestigious Padma Seshadri Bal Bhavan to the Madras Christian College and finally he dropped out of school altogether.


Religion


In 1988, one of his sisters fell seriously ill and numerous attempts to cure her failed.
Her condition progressively worsened.
The family had given up all hope when they came in contact with a Muslim Pir - Sheik Abdul Qadir Jeelani or Pir Qadri as he was popularly known.
With his prayers and blessings, Dileep's sister made a miraculous recovery.
Rattled by the bad experience and influenced by the teachings of the Pir, the entire family converted to Islam.
Thus A.S.Dileep Kumar became Allah Rakha Rahman.