{"id":247109,"date":"2026-01-20T00:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/247109\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T00:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:13:08","slug":"imtiaz-ali-says-ar-rahmans-remarks-were-misconstrued-i-dont-think-there-is-any-communal-bias-in-the-film-industry-hindi-movie-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/247109\/","title":{"rendered":"Imtiaz Ali says AR Rahman’s remarks were \u2018misconstrued\u2019, \u2018I don\u2019t think there is any communal bias in the film industry\u2019 | Hindi Movie News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Imtiaz Director Imtiaz Ali<\/a>, who has collaborated extensively with Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman on films such as Rockstar, Tamasha, Highway, and most recently Amar Singh Chamkila, has come out in support of the musician amid the ongoing controversy surrounding his recent remarks.Speaking to India Today, Imtiaz dismissed the idea of communal bias in the Hindi film industry and suggested that Rahman<\/a>\u2019s comments may have been misunderstood or taken out of context.\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think there is a communal bias in the film industry. I\u2019ve been here for a long time, and I\u2019ve never seen it, and AR Rahman is one of the brightest figures that I\u2019ve met in the film industry,\u201d Imtiaz said.He added, \u201cI do not actually believe that he made all the comments that are being attributed to him, or maybe it\u2019s been misconstrued. In fact, I know that he did not say exactly what is being perceived. Also, I don\u2019t remember a single incident where there was any communal bias or animosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

What AR Rahman said that sparked the debate<\/p>\n

The controversy began after AR Rahman told BBC Asian Network in a recent interview that the volume of his work in the Hindi film industry had declined over the past eight years. During the conversation, Rahman hinted that this shift could be linked to what he described as a \u201ccommunal thing\u201d and also spoke about changes in the industry\u2019s power structure, where creative control, according to him, has moved away from creative people.His remarks triggered a heated debate across social media and entertainment circles, with critics questioning the basis of his observations and interpretations.Following the backlash, Rahman issued a clarification, stating that his comments had been misunderstood and that he never intended to \u201ccause pain\u201d through his words.<\/p>\n

Rahman\u2019s daughters Raheema and Khatija speak up in support<\/p>\n

Amid the backlash, AR Rahman\u2019s daughters, Raheema and Khatija Rahman, publicly showed their support for their father by sharing a post by music composer Kailas on social media.Kailas\u2019 post strongly defended Rahman\u2019s right to express his lived experience, while calling out the nature of the criticism that followed.\u201cDisagree, don\u2019t disgrace. People blaming A R Rahman for speaking his mind are missing a basic point. He spoke about how he felt. That is his right. You may disagree with him, but you cannot deny him the freedom to express his experience,\u201d Kailas wrote. <\/p>\n

AR RAHMAN\u2013HANS ZIMMER SELFIE WITH RANBIR; \u2018RAMAYANA\u2019 TEASER SPARKS GLOBAL MUSIC FRENZY<\/p>\n

\u2018This is not criticism, it\u2019s hate speech\u2019: Kailas<\/p>\n

Kailas further pointed out that the reaction to Rahman\u2019s remarks had crossed the line from disagreement into abuse and character assassination.\u201cWhat followed, however, has gone far beyond disagreement and entered the space of abuse and character assassination,\u201d he said.Praising Rahman\u2019s global legacy, Kailas added that the composer has carried Indian music to the world with dignity and shaped generations through his work.\u201cCalling a globally respected artist a \u2018disgrace\u2019, questioning his faith, mocking his recent works, and reducing his lived experience to a \u2018victim card\u2019 is not criticism. It\u2019s hate speech presented as opinion,\u201d the post read. He concluded by saying, \u201cDecades of contribution to Tamil culture, Indian cinema, and global music do not disappear because an artist expresses a personal view. You may debate his opinion on a film. You may disagree with his interpretation. That\u2019s fair. What is not fair is public humiliation or attacking his integrity to silence what he said.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Director Imtiaz Ali, who has collaborated extensively with Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman on films such as Rockstar, Tamasha,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[84803,132326,132325,132327,132321,146,85,25307,46,132322,132323,397,49259,132324],"class_list":["post-247109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ar-rahman","tag-ar-rahman-communal-comment","tag-ar-rahman-communal-remark","tag-ar-rahman-controversy","tag-communal-bias-in-film-industry","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-imtiaz-ali","tag-israel","tag-kailas-music-composer","tag-khatija-rahman","tag-movies","tag-rahman","tag-rahman-daughters-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}