Amidst the row over AR Rahman’s recent remarks about communalism in industry and the backlash it received, an old clip began surfacing on social media where filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma can be seen claiming that the Oscar-winning song ‘Jai Ho’ was composed by Sukhwinder Singh. This clip added fuel to the ongoing debate on social media about Rahman’s recent credentials as an influential music composer.
On Wednesday, however, Ram Gopal Varma took to his X page to set the matter straight. Penning a brief post, the Satya filmmaker wrote, “To all concerned, I am being misquoted and misread out of context in the matter of the Jai ho song.” RGV also went on to describe Rahman as ‘the greatest composer and the nicest human being I ever met,’ adding, “He’s the last person to take away anybody’s credit. I hope this puts an end to the negativism surrounding the issue.”
This statement contradicts the claims made by RGV in the clip from years ago, where he said Sukhwinder directly told him about the origins of 'Jai Ho.'
Meanwhile, screenshots of another new reports have been circulating alongside said clip of RGV, where Sukhwinder Singh clarified that RGV was mistaken in his notion, and that ‘Jai Ho’ was composed by Rahman himself.
It is to be noted that ‘Jai Ho’ was originally composed for Subhash Ghai’s 2008 film Yuvvraaj. However, after the veteran filmmaker found the composition too mellow for the situation in his film, Rahman used the composition for Slumdog Millionaire, for which he went on to win the Academy Award in 2009.
Ram Gopal Varma and Rahman worked together on Rangeela (1995) and Daud (1997). Rangeela famously launched AR Rahman’s career in Hindi cinema.
