Did Ram Gopal Varma Just Call AR Rahman the ‘Nicest Human Being’ After Accusations?
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Key Takeaways
Mumbai, Jan 21 (NationPress) Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who previously accused music composer AR Rahman of appropriating Sukhvinder Singh's credit for the song Jai Ho, has now referred to the music maestro as the “nicest human being.”
Amidst the ongoing controversy, Varma took to X on Tuesday to clarify that he was misquoted in a recent interview. He emphasized, “To all concerned... I am being misquoted and misread out of context regarding the Jai Ho song... in my opinion, @arrahman is the greatest composer and the nicest human being I have ever encountered; he is the last person to take away anyone's credit... I hope this resolves the negative discourse surrounding the issue.”
AR Rahman has been in the news after he mentioned that his contributions to the Hindi film industry have decreased over the last eight years, attributing this to a “power shift” and “communal” politics in the entertainment sector.
In a resurfaced interview clip that gained traction online, Varma claimed that AR Rahman was not the original creator of the Oscar-winning song Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, suggesting that it was initially composed by singer Sukhwinder Singh.
Varma recounted an incident related to the film Yuvraj, featuring Salman Khan, where he alleged that Rahman sourced the tune from Sukhwinder Singh during a studio session before selling it, which ultimately turned into Jai Ho. He further alleged that Sukhwinder was compensated with Rs. 5 lakh later through Rahman’s management.
Regarding Rahman's controversy over his “communal” comment, the composer posted a video on his social media to clarify that he did not intend to offend anyone and expressed regret if his remarks caused any hurt.