Meet Hans Zimmer, was thrown out of 8 schools, won 2 Oscars, set to make Indian cinema debut as Ramayana music composer with AR Rahman

The first glimpse of Namit Malhotra's Ramayana, directed by Nitesh Tiwari and starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash as Lord Rama, Sita, and Ravana, has set the internet on fore since its release on Thursday. One of the most lauded aspects in the 3-minute video is the goosebumps-inducing Ramayana introduction theme composed by AR Rahman and Hans Zimmer. This marks the first collaboration between the legendary Indian music director and the acclaimed Hollywood composer.

Who is Hans Zimmer?

Born in Germany, Hans Zimmer is one of the most renowned music composers in the world. Talking about how he learned music, he once shared on his Reddit AMA, "My formal training was two weeks of piano lessons. I was thrown out of eight schools. But I joined a band. I am self-taught. But I've always heard music in my head. And I'm a child of the 20th century; computers came in very handy."  Hans has said that it was the score of the 1968 epic Western film Once Upon a Time in the West that inspired him to become a film composer.

Zimmer has received 12 Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score and has won it twice for the 1994 animal musical The Lion King and the 2021 epic Dune. The other famous movies for which he has composed music include Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Man of Steel, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and F1. Now, Hans Zimmer will be making his debut in Indian cinema with Ramayana. He will be composing the music along with AR Rahman, who has also won two Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for the 2008 drama Slumdog Millionaire.

Ramayana release date and other details

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios and 8-time Oscar winning VFX studio DNEG in association with Yash’s Monster Mind Creations;  Ramayana is being filmed for IMAX and will release worldwide - Part 1 in Diwali 2026 and Part 2 in Diwali 2027. Set 5,000 years ago and revered by 2.5 billion people globally, this grand epic unfolds as a two-part live-action cinematic universe, crafted on a scale matching the biggest global tentpoles.

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