{"id":448738,"date":"2026-01-31T03:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T03:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/448738\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T03:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T03:35:15","slug":"amaal-mallik-reacts-to-ar-rahmans-communal-bias-claim-this-is-not-his-insecurity-he-is-only-showing-the-tip-of-the-iceberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/448738\/","title":{"rendered":"Amaal Mallik reacts to AR Rahman\u2019s communal bias claim: ‘This is not his insecurity… he is only showing the tip of the iceberg’ |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Amaal AR Rahman\u2019s remark about ‘communal bias’ in Bollywood has opened up a larger conversation within the industry. While adding his voice to the debate, singer-composer Amaal Mallik<\/a> said he understands the concern Rahman was raising, he disagreed with framing it as a communal issue. Several prominent industry figures, including Rani Mukerji, Kangana Ranaut, Javed Akhtar, and Manoj Muntashir, have also publicly opposed Rahman\u2019s remark.<\/p>\n

\u2018From an industry perspective, what he said is largely correct\u2019<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with Faridoon Shahryar, Amaal explained that Rahman\u2019s observation about power structures in the industry holds weight, but the reasoning, according to him, lies elsewhere. <\/p>\n

AR Rahman Responds to Ramayan Controversy, Calls Epic a Story of Values Beyond Religion<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom an industry perspective, what he has said is largely correct. However, I do not agree with the communal aspect of it. Forget nepotism and groupism \u2014 today, every label is comfortable working with its own set of artistes. They promote those artistes because they bring revenue. In today\u2019s time, labels have become the real decision-makers,\u201d Amaal said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Creative groupism exists \u2014 and it\u2019s not always wrong\u2019<\/p>\n

Elaborating on how collaborations work in the current ecosystem, Amaal pointed out that creative groupism has long existed in the industry and often stems from artistic compatibility rather than exclusion.\u201cThis is the era of management and agencies. There is groupism, both in good and bad ways. You can see how Mani Ratnam sir works almost exclusively with Rahman sir, or how Anurag Basu mostly collaborates with Pritam da. I once told Anurag Basu sir that I love his work, and he said he only thinks in Pritam\u2019s musical language. These creative synergies naturally form,\u201d he said.He added, \u201cLabels are comfortable with their artistes \u2014 and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. But if someone is making better music, they should be given priority, whether it\u2019s AR Rahman or a newcomer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Even AR Rahman can\u2019t challenge this system\u2019<\/p>\n

Amaal further addressed the changing power dynamics in the music industry, noting that even the biggest composers are constrained by how labels function today.\u201cThe industry wants to work with big names like AR Rahman and Pritam da. There are only a few such composers, yet none of them are working as much as Pritam da. There are several big composers and many newcomers too. It\u2019s not about targeting anyone,\u201d he said.\u201cOver the last 15 years, a new system has come into place where labels prefer to stick to their own artistes and won\u2019t wait for anyone to say yes \u2014 not even me or AR Rahman. That\u2019s just how things work today. And if AR Rahman can\u2019t challenge this system, how can someone like me?\u201d Amaal added. <\/p>\n

\u2018This is not AR Rahman\u2019s insecurity\u2019<\/p>\n

Clarifying that Rahman\u2019s comment should not be misread as insecurity, Amaal stressed that the composer was merely highlighting a deeper issue.\u201cThe only way forward is to focus on making good music. I don\u2019t run behind doing 15 films at a time. I understand what he is trying to say. This is not AR Rahman\u2019s insecurity \u2014 he is far too big for that. He is only showing the tip of the iceberg. He is pointing out that even someone of his stature can be sidelined. The bigger players today have a bigger say and are overpowering the system,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

What AR Rahman had said<\/p>\n

For context, AR Rahman sparked the controversy during a recent interaction with BBC Asian Network, where he spoke about receiving fewer work offers in Bollywood.\u201cPeople 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, \u2018Oh, that’s great, rest for me, I can chill out with my family,\u2019\u201d Rahman said.The Oscar-winning composer faced significant backlash online following the remark and later issued an apology through a video statement on social media, clarifying that he did not intend to hurt sentiments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AR Rahman\u2019s remark about ‘communal bias’ in Bollywood has opened up a larger conversation within the industry. While…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[220764,51808,232175,232178,232174,63636,232173,64,63,447,232177,232179,134,232176],"class_list":["post-448738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-amaal-malik","tag-amaal-mallik","tag-amaal-mallik-interview","tag-amaal-mallik-reacts-to-ar-rahman-comment","tag-amaal-mallik-response","tag-ar-rahman","tag-ar-rahman-communal-bias","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-communal-issues-in-bollywood","tag-creative-groupism-in-music","tag-entertainment","tag-rahman-comments-backlash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}