Question:  Aravaan ") is a 2012 Indian Tamil epic historical fiction that is the debut as a music director of a trained Carnatic music vocalist who was an ardent fan of who?
Context: Aravaan (English: "Snake") is a 2012 Indian Tamil epic historical fiction film directed by Vasanthabalan, based on Su.  Venkatesan's novel "Kaaval Kottam".  It stars Aadhi, Dhansika, Archana Kavi and Pasupathy, with Kabir Bedi playing a prominent role, and Bharath appearing in a cameo role.  The film marks noted playback singer Karthik's debut as a music director.  "Aravaan" released on 2 March 2012 to mixed reviews and was a box office bomb.  The film was dubbed in Hindi as "Jungle The Battleground". Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam is an eminent Carnatic music vocalist.  As a student and performer of classical music for over three decades, she has performed extensively in India and abroad since the age of twelve.  She has conducted numerous workshops and lecture demonstrations on the various aspects of Carnatic Music.  She has presented papers at international conferences in many countries over the last decade.  She is a serious researcher of music.  In June 2007, she brought out a book "Apoorva Kriti Manjari" – a collection of twenty rare compositions of the Trinity of Carnatic Music.  The book has notations in English and Tamil by noted musicologist S. Balachander and the audio has been rendered by Vijayalakshmy.  A doctorate in music, Vijayalakshmy was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Visiting Lecturer Fellowship in 2010.  As part of the programme, she taught the subject 'An Introduction to Indian Music' at the Duke University, North Carolina, USA, as a visiting Fulbright fellow (Aug – Nov 2010). "Padmashri" Dr. Sirkali G. Sivachidambaram (Tamil: டாக்டர் சீர்காழி கோ.  சிவசிதம்பரம் ) is a Carnatic music vocalist from Chennai.  He is an alumnus of the Madras Medical College where he qualified as a UG & PG in Medicine and Trinity College of Music where he learnt western music.  He is the principle disciple of the great master Sangeetha Vidwan Prof. B.Krishnamurthy in the intricacies and nuances of Indian Classical music, since childhood till date He is also a Medical Doctor with a Post graduate degree in Internal Medicine.  He is now working as Dean/Spl. officer, Perambalur Govt Medical college, Perambalur, Tamil Nadu on promotion from his previous designation as a Professor & HOD of Medicine in his Alma mater MMC, as Director i/c of Institute of Internal Medicine at the Madras Medical college.  Sivachidambaram is the son of Padma Shri winner Dr.Sirkazhi S. Govindarajan.  Sivachidambaram has recorded a song, "Enadharumai Raanuva Veerargaal", written by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India.  His extempore rendering of the song on 'Youth empowerment' in Tamil written by Hon'ble President of India Dr.APJ.  Abdul Kalam, during the inauguration of Tamil Isai Sangam festival in Chennai was appreciated with a hue and cry. Ramakrishnan Murthy is a young Carnatic Music vocalist from India.  He regularly performs in the annual Madras Music Season besides being featured in music festivals that focus on Carnatic music.  He is an A-grade artist of the All India Radio and Doordarshan, Chennai. He was born into a Tamil family.  Karthik developed an interest in music, early in his life.  He is a trained Carnatic music vocalist and has been training since his school days.  He was part of a college band and regularly participated in IIT Madras Fest "Saarang".  An ardent fan of A. R. Rahman, Karthik's dream was to meet Rahman and sing for him.  Playback singer Srinivas, who collaborated often with Rahman was Karthik's close friend's cousin.  Srinivas encouraged Karthik to look at singing as a career, which prompted Karthik to resume his singing lessons.  One year later, Srinivas recommended Karthik's name to Rahman, who needed fresh voices for backing vocalists for a song from "Pukar".  Karthik eventually got the opportunity and recorded for the song.  Having spent over a year being a backing vocalist, Karthik got his break during the re-recording of "One 2 Ka 4".  For the background score, A. R. Rahman wanted a high-pitched alap and he eventually chose Karthik to sing the alap.  Soon after, Rahman asked him to sing the song "Nendhukittaen" from the film "Star. Suguna Purushothaman (1941–25 February 2015) was an Indian Carnatic music vocalist, composer and teacher.  She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Carnatic music vocals in 2010. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (1890– January 23, 1967), popularly known as "Ariyakudi", was a Carnatic music vocalist, born in Ariyakudi, a town in the Karaikudi district, present-day Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu.  Ariyakudi developed a unique style of singing which came to be known as "The Ariyakudi Tradition" and is followed by his students.  He established the modern "katcheri" (concert) traditions in Carnatic music. Manthiri Kumari (English: "The Minister's Daughter" ) is a 1950 Indian Tamil historical fiction film directed by Ellis R. Dungan and starring M. G. Ramachandran, M. N. Nambiar.  The title of the film is on the character of Amudhvalli, which was played by Madhuri Devi.This film had limited scope for the heroine of M.G.R and hence G. Shakuntala was paired opposite M.G.R.  The screen play was written by M. Karunanidhi based on an incident from the Tamil epic "Kundalakesi".  This was the last Tamil film directed by Dungan and is considered to be among the most successful films of that decade.  Shortly after directing this film, Dungan left the Tamil film industry and did not direct Tamil films again.  Singer T. M. Soundararajan sang for very first time for Ramachandran in this film. Radha and Jayalakshmi, popularly known as Radha Jayalakshmi (Tamil: ராதா ஜெயலட்சுமி ), were Indian Carnatic music vocalist duo as well as playback singers in films in the 1940s and 1950s, before they became music teachers.  The person who does the playback singing is Jayalakshmi but was named as Radha Jayalakshmi in the cine field.  Actually, Radha was her cousin and singing partner on the stage performances.  They were early singers in the trend of duo singing in Carnatic music, which started in the 1950s, with performers like Soolamangalam Sisters, and later continued by Bombay Sisters, Ranjani-Gayatri and Priya Sisters. Muthu Thandavar (1525 – 1600 CE) (Tamil:முத்துத்தாண்டவர்)was composer of Carnatic music.  He was an early architect of the present day Carnatic "kriti" (song) format, which consists of the "pallavi" (refrain), "anupallavi" and "charanam".  He lived in the town of Sirkazhi in Tamil Nadu.  His contributions to Carnatic music have been largely forgotten and not many of his "kritis" are in vogue today.  Muthu Thandavar, along with Arunachala Kavi (1712–1779) and Marimutthu Pillai (1717–1787) are known as the Tamil Trinity of Carnatic music.
Answer: A. R. Rahman