CHENNAI: Director Ram Gopal Varma has clarified that his comment on AR Rahman's Jai Ho is being misinterpreted and misquoted. In a post on X, the director said that he believes that the Oscar-winning musician is one of the greatest to exist and is the last person to steal anyone's credit.
The clarification comes in the light of one of his old interviews that is now being widely circulated on social media, where Varma had claimed that the Oscar-winning track 'Jai Ho' was composed by musician Sukhwinder Singh and not Rahman.
Varma, in the interview, had claimed that when Rahman was composing music for Subhash Ghai's Yuvvraaj, the music director delayed giving Ghai songs, which led to a series of serious interactions. In one of them, Rahman had told the director that he was being paid for his name, and he could have anyone compose the music after he had Sukhwinder Singh play a tune for Ghai at Singh's studio in Mumbai. An angered Ghai had allegedly told Rahman, "I am paying for you to do it," prompting that response from the musician. Later, Rahman had used the song for Slumdog Millionaire and paid Singh Rs 5 lakhs.
Now clarifying his statement, the director posted on X that, "I am being misquoted and misread out of context in the matter of the Jai ho song. In my view, AR Rahman is the greatest composer and the nicest human being I ever met, and he’s the last person to take away anybody’s credits. I hope this puts an end to the negativism surrounding the issue."Ram Gopal Varma
The video has been circulated following AR Rahman's comments on communalism, which led to reduced opportunities for him in Bollywood, according to him in an interview last week. While Rahman clarified his stance through a video, social media users continue to target the musician.