Oscar-winning music composer, singer, philanthropist, and, of course, now a director, A R Rahman has taken his fans by a big surprise on Friday - January 6, on the occassion of his 56th birthday, by announcing that he has launched a brandnew digital music platform, which has architected in a way to bring imagination and innovation together. His announcement, that came from nowhere, has drawn attention from everywhere with an overwhelming reception. 

A R Rahman took to social media to introduce his music platform to the world and released a brief speech about what's in store. Taking to Twitter, the legendary musician wrote, "I'm excited to announce today- KATRAAR, the meta verse platform currently in development, is one step closer to launching. And I look forward to sharing this journey with you all." 

Releasing a video, A R Rahman said, "Katraar means a group of learned people who can change the world. Katraar is also a tradition. Katraar has wisdom. Katraar has future. Katraar has a vision. This platform is to bring in new talents, technologies, and to bring direct revenue for artists. To help emerging technologies and probably bridge them to the future. This platform is to innovate, this platform is for freedom. The world is opening up. New things are opening for artists and it is important to learn new things." 

"Because that's gonna be the norm of the future. Katraar is a platform to bridge the new and the old, to bridge people who have ideas to possibilities. And people have ideas to be exposed to the world so that they can change the world. And, art can change the world, creativity can change the world, and we bring in a world which is much more beautiful", he added. 

A R Rahman further said, "Right now we are working with the HBAR Foundation to do many cool things and one is bringing a lot of NFTs, which are rare and which are very unique in music, in art, in storytelling, and also an undisclosed project based on virtual beings so that we can find a whole new expression to thoughts which are trapped in older form." The video ends with a quick vocal of celebrating Tamil. 

According to the website of Katraar, the platform brings the power of Web 3.0 with digital collectibles and metaverse. Pushing the boundaries in his new year, A R Rahman has certainly added yet another venture in his store of exploring and pioneering the possibilities. The website says, "It's an exclusive platform to promote new creations in music and other art forms. We are using decentralised technology to build a global community of music lovers and artists to share their common passion for creativity." 

It has also the theme music of the platform composed by A R Rahman. Decorating more national and international honours including two Oscars and a Padma Bhusan award, Rahman is busy with a slew of projects and he has also been ramping up his directorial avatar. He has projects lined up till 2024 including a handful of Tamil movies - Pathu Thala, Ponniyin Selvan 2, Ayalaan, Laal Salaam, Maamannan, Kamal Haasan's two upcoming flicks KH 233 and KH 234 with Vinoth and Mani Ratnam respectively. 

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— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) January 6, 2023