AR Rahman Jai Ho Controversy: Ram Gopal Varma Issues Clarification As His Old Interview Goes Viral, Says He Was 'Misquoted'

Music composer AR Rahman has been embroiled in controversy after in a recent interview, he hinted that he is not getting work in Bollywood due to 'communal thing'. Amid this controversy, an old video interview of Ram Gopal Varma went viral, in which he claimed that the Oscar-winning song, Jai Ho, from Slumdog Millionaire was composed by Sukhwinder Singh and not Rahman.

However, the filmmaker, on Wednesday, took to X (Twitter) to reveal that he is being 'misquoted'. RGV tweeted, "To all concerned .. I am being misquoted and misread out of context in the matter of the Jai ho song."

He further wrote, "In my view @arrahman is the greatest composer and the nicest human being I ever met and he’s the last person to take away anybody’s credit ..I hope this puts an end to the negativism surrounding the issue (sic)."

Ram Gopal Varma On AR Rahman's Jai Ho Song

In the viral interview, RGV says that Rahman was composing songs for Subhash Ghai's film Yuvvraj. They were supposed to meet at Sukhwinder's studio, but Rehman came late, and he asked the singer if he had composed the song. This made Ghai angry, and he shouted at Rahman that he is paying Rs. 3 crore to him for the song, and not Sukhwinder.

RGV further said, "Rahman replied to him, 'Mind your tongue. You're paying for my name, not for my work. Don't get confused." After that conversation, Rahman left.

The Rangeela director further claimed, "Sukhwinder told me that Rahman later called him and asked him to complete the song and email it to him. That was it, then one year later, Rahman's manager sent a cheque for 5 lakhs to Sukhwinder and then Sukhwinder asked why? The manager said, 'You made a song for Rahman and Rahman sold it to a party, and this 5 lakh is your share.' Who did Rahman sell the song to? Slumdog Millionaire. And the song Jai ho."

Neither Rahman nor Sukhwinder has opened up about the controversy.