A R Rahman The Legend

AR Rahman is scaling one milestone after another. The 'Mozart of Madras' performed at the White House in front of President Barack Obama and Indian PM Manmohan Singh to mark the latter's three-day visit to the US.

The US president Barack Obama hosted a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the South Lawn in the White House. The first ever after the Obama was sworn in as the President.

The 338-long list of celebrities was from various fields like entertainers, business moguls, noted politicians and friends of the President graced the event.

The first lady Michelle Obama was seen in a strapless gold dress and overlaid with silver work and a matching shawl.

The Indian cooking was personally overlooked by the first lady and consisted mostly of vegetarian dishes as Manmohan Singh is a vegetarian. The food was prepared by the chief Chef Williams.

The scheme for the dinner was green and purple, to symbolize peacock the national bird of India.

A huge tent was construction for this purpose at the South Lawn with magnificent views of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial which held chandeliers and beige carpets on the floor.

The President welcomed the Prime minister in Hindi (Aapka Suwagat Hai meaning You are welcome).

Some of the celebrity guests where Stephen Spielberg, Governor Bobby Jindal, Mukesh Ambani, Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, New York Mayor, actress Jennifer Hudson, Deepak Chopra, S S Sathwal, Sanjay Gupta, Amirtya Sen, Indrya Nooyi and not to forget our very own Oscar winning music composer A R Rahman. The highlight of the evening was the music by the Mozart of Madras.

It is worth a mention here that Manmohan Singh was invited for the state dinner for the second time, the first one during the Bush regime.

He sang two tracks -- Jai Ho and Dreams on Fire -- from his Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.

As part of an initiative by the government authorities, Rahman performed with Indian and western artistes to welcome Singh in the US.

A source said, "It was an electrifying performance celebrating brotherhood between India and the US. Rahman set the mood for Manmohan Singh's three-day visit to the US. High level government officials of both countries witnessed this performance."

Rahman has a great fan following in the US. "He was the best person to have during this crucial meeting of the two country's heads. There were bhangra performers too at the event. Rahman also teamed up with musician Taku Hirano with whom he had performed at Time magazine's gala event that had crowned the 100 Most Influential people of the world in New York City."