A R Rahman plays Muslim victimhood card by saying he lost work in Bollywood, claims ‘it might be a communal thing’: Read how his allegations are completely baseless

When success comes their way, some people attribute it to their sheer talent and hard work, but when a setback or a slowdown comes in their career, they find people and the industry they work in to blame. In a recent interview, noted music composer A R Rahman reflected on his professional journey, only to blame ‘communalism’ and ‘industry-politics’ for losing out in the Hindi film industry, Bollywood, over the last 8 years.

In an interview with BBC Asian Network, the Oscar-winning composer was asked if he faced any prejudice in the Hindi film industry in the 1990s. To this, Rahman said that he did not feel any such prejudice overtly; however, in the past eight years, there has been a slowdown in his Hindi music career. Rahman attributed this slowdown to a ‘power shift’.

Beyond the insinuation that he may have been a target of industry politics due to his South Indian or Tamil background or for other reasons, A R Rahman cited Chinese whispers to suggest that his not getting more work in Bollywood could be a “communal thing”.

“Maybe I didn’t get to know all this stuff. Maybe God concealed all this stuff. But for me, I never felt any of those, but the past eight years, maybe, because the power shift has happened. People who are not creative have the power now to decide things, and this might have been a communal thing also, but not in my face. It comes to me as Chinese whispers that they booked you, but the music company went ahead and hired their five composers. I said, ‘Oh, that’s great, rest for me, I can chill out with my family,’ Rahman told BBC’s Haroon Rashid.

It must be recalled that back in 2020, Rahman had similar complaints that there was a ‘gang’ operating in Bollywood that was spreading false rumours about him, creating misunderstandings, and blocking good projects from reaching him. This forced him to do ‘dark movies’ and not the good ones or more mainstream Bollywood projects. However, Rahman did not make any claims back then about communal targeting or simply his being deprived of quality work in Bollywood due to his Muslim religious identity.

It is ironic that, of all the film industries, A R Rahman went on to call Bollywood communal, that too, suggesting that he is perhaps being sidelined due to his Muslim identity by the industry folks due to their anti-Muslim biases. Bollywood has historically been, and even now continues to be, a highly secular, rather Muslim-inclined industry to a great extent. From Mohammed Rafi to Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan) to Salim-Javed to the Khan trio, Muslims have dominated the industry.

Undeniably, there has been an emergence of Hindi cinema that showcases Hindu history and grievances, and highlights the Hindu culture more unapologetically. However, this does not automatically mean that the industry has become communal, pro-Hindu or anti-Muslim.

Many singers and music composers, who are Muslim by faith, continue to thrive in Bollywood. Is the ‘communal thing’ A R Rahman talked about only against him?

Bollywood has always been and continues to be a nepotistic, obviously not entirely, clique-driven, and profit-centric industry, where religious, regional or ideological agendas may influence movie scripts. However, communal prejudices against Muslim actors, singers or music composers, that too of Rahman’s stature, is a hard-to-believe claim.

A R Rahman has had an illustrious career spanning three decades. Through his music, Rahman has left his mark on Tamil, Hindi, and other regional languages. From Oscar to Filmfare, Rahman has won dozens of awards and accolades for his melodies. However, this does not mean he would have always got the same amount of or the same quality of work consistently.

His songs in the recent Bollywood hit starring Dhanush, who primarily acts in Tamil movies, became quite popular. In fact, singer Faheem Abdullah’s song ‘Aawara Angara’ became quite popular among the audience. Abdullah’s title track in another blockbuster of 2025, ‘Saiyara’, remained among the top songs for four months.

How is it that Muslim actors, singers, and music composers, be it Faheem Abdullah, Salim-Sulaiman, Arman and Amaal Mallik, Javed Ali, among others, continue to get consistent work in Bollywood, but only A R Rahman is not getting enough work due to the ‘communal thing’? Is the ‘communal thing’ there in the Hindi film and music industry only against A R Rahman?

Until Rahman divulges more details about who those ‘non-creative decision makers’ are, his “communal thing” claim is speculative and comes across as needless Muslim victimhood. The biases, Rahman claims, could be real, but more individualised than religion-centric.

Interestingly, established artists attributing their career dips to ‘gangs’, and ‘boycotts’ is not new. Be it Taapsee Pannu, Swara Bhasker, or Richa Chadha, all of them have been quite vocal on political issues. They have enjoyed support and faced criticism from various sides of the political spectrum. Yet when their films do not do well on box office, they at times argue that their failure is the cost of their unfiltered political commentary.

This convenient yet dishonest excuse comes even as their movies were rejected by audiences due to poor scripting, mediocre acting, and other content-based reasons. If movies like Dobaara, Anarkali of Aarah, Jahaan Chaar Yaar, Ishqeria, Shakeela, and Madam Prime Minister tanked at the box office, films like Pink, Fukrey, Veere Di Wedding, among others, performed phenomenally and earned praise for them.

Instead of reflecting on factors like poor script choices, some actors choose to blame ‘trolling’, boycott campaigns, outsider factors, and even ‘communalism’ by which they essentially mean ‘Hindutva’, while in reality their content and performance may have been the problem.

Coming back to A R Rahman not getting more work in Bollywood. The music maestro has an illustrious career with more than 200 films. However, like any other entertainment industry, Bollywood’s music landscape has transformed over the years. Like in any field, new people come in, make their place, and eventually replace the old one no matter how talented the established ones are. Music composers like Amit Trivedi, Mithoon, Pritam, Sachin-Jigar, and many emerging talents have brought fresh sounds; of course, they too are and should be subjected to criticism when warranted.

However, times change, audiences evolve, and new demands emerge. Talented artists have had their eras. Once Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi ruled, then came Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan, then entered Sonu Nigam and KK.

There was a time when movies were not complete without Mohit Chauhan songs, but now Arijit Singh dominates playback singing. This does not mean earlier singers lost vocal magic or were deliberately sidelined, but rather a crop of new singers emerged and swept audiences with their fresh voices.

Audience taste has pivoted from song-centric movies to content-driven narratives. Although musicals like Aashiqui 2 or Saiyara do manage to pull viewers to theatres, reliance on good songs alone is no longer a guaranteed success formula. With music apps, YouTube, and social media handling music PR, filmmakers no longer essentially rely on chart-topping tracks to pull crowds. Dhurandhar became a smashing hit due to its content and powerful performances, with its music playing a perfect cherry on the cake, same goes with Animal, and Chhaava.

Historical drama film Chhaava, one of the biggest hits of 2025, had its music as its biggest weak link. Ironically, the film’s music was composed by A R Rahman.

During his interview with BBC Asian Network, Rahman discussed the film Chhaava, which stars Vicky Kaushal as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. The film centred on the valour, resistance, and sacrifice of the son of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and the brutality Sambhaji was subjected to by Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb for around 40 days for not converting to Islam.

The film dramatised the lived reality of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and the Islamic fanaticism of Aurangzeb, yet A R Rahman found the film “divisive”.

“It is divisive. I think it cashed on the divisiveness of it, but I think the core of it is to show the bravery… I told the director, ‘Why do you need me for this?’ He said we need only you for this. I think it was an enjoyable finish. But I definitely think people are smarter than that. Do you think people are going to get influenced by movies? They have something called internal conscience which knows what the truth is and what manipulation is…” Rahman said.

However, contrary to Rahman’s reading of Chhaava, the film was not ‘divisive’, rather it presented historical facts about Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj’s courage, sacrifice and devotion towards Hindu Dharma as well as Aurangzeb’s Islamic jihadist fanaticism, within the bounds of cinematic storytelling.

Somehow, whenever Hindus attempt to narrate their stories of persecution by Islamic jihadis through films like the recent blockbuster Chhaava based on the life and valour of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj who was tormented for days before being murdered for not converting to Islam or The Kashmir Files which retold the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus in the early 1990s, such films are dubbed as ‘communal’, ‘propaganda’, ‘divisive’, and whatnot. But no such hue and cry erupted when movies ‘Fanaa’ humanised Islamic terrorists, film ‘Haider’ featured song calling the Martand Surya Mandir a ‘Shaitan ki Gufa’, or Kabir Khan’s ‘Tiger’ franchise whitewashing Pakistan’s ISI responsible for countless jihadist attacks in India, or when films like ‘Article 15’ peddle an anti-Brahmin narrative by distorting facts.

Amusingly, if Chhaava was indeed a divisive film, why did A R Rahman choose to compose music for such a movie, especially when he claims that ‘communalism’ is hindering his career in Bollywood? Despite there being a ‘communal thing’ prevalent in the Hindi film industry, how does A R Rahman get a massive project like Ramayana, the movie centred on the Hindu epic and Hindu gods?

A R Rahman’s own ‘communal thing’

A R Rahman’s “communal thing” remark becomes even more baffling when one looks back at the allegations he faced in the past about similar bias. Back in 2020, Tamil poet and lyricist Piraisoodan made a shocking disclosure on how Rahman’s family had expressed their intolerance towards Hindu traditions and their symbols.

According to Piraisoodan, when he went to Rahman’s house upon his invitation, shockingly, Rahman’s mother asked him that he should not wear Vibuthi and Kumkum Tilak when he visits their house.

“I refused to remove the Hindu religious marks on his forehead,” Piraisoodan said in an interview.

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— Shobhana Ganesan Read More