MUMBAI: This year the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) will honour music director AR Rahman with a Lifetime Achievement award. Rahman will receive the award during the 8th DIFF to be held from 7-14 December.

Winner of two Academy Awards and two Grammy Awards, the 45 year old Rahman will be the first musician to receive a Lifetime Achievement award at the film festival.

Rahman‘s Slumdog Millionaire, which was screened at DIFF 2008, won the musician two Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song, while his score for 127 Hours, which screened at DIFF 2010, won him Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations.

While at Dubai, Rahman will also kick off his world tour with a concert supported by the Festival in the city on 9 December.

This year DIFF will also present the Lifetime Achievement Award to veteran Egyptian actor Gamil Rateb.

Others from the Indian film industry who have won the Lifetime Achievement Award at DIFF include Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai.