Oscar-winning Indian composer AR Rahman has issued a public apology following backlash to him saying there might be a religious bias in the Hindi film industry.
In a video message posted to his Instagram, Rahman said: “Music has always been my way of connecting, celebrating and honouring a culture. India is my inspiration, my teacher and my home.
“I understand that intentions can sometimes be misunderstood, but my purpose has always been to uplift, honour ,and serve through music,” he said.
He added that he “never wished to cause pain and I hope my sincerity is felt”.
In an interview with the BBC Asian Network, Rahman said while he had not faced overt discrimination early in his career, there have been changes in the last eight years.
“Maybe in the past eight years, because a power shift has happened and people who are not creative have the power now. It might be a communal thing also, but it is not in my face,” he told host Haroon Rashid, when asked if artists from outside Maharashtra, the Indian state where Bollywood primarily operates, find it harder to get work.
“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,” he said.
“I am not in search for work. I want work to come to me; my sincerity to earn work. Whatever I deserve, I get.”
Rahman was born AS Dileep Kumar into a Hindu family but converted to Islam in the early 1980s after his father’s death.
His remarks sparked a controversy across social media almost immediately, with critics accusing the composer of implying that religious identity affected professional prospects in Bollywood.
Kangana Ranaut, actor and member of parliament for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, accused Rahman of being “prejudiced and hateful”, adding that he refused to meet her during her 2025 directorial debut film Emergency.
“I was told you don’t want to be a part of a propaganda film,” she wrote in an Instagram Story. Emergency, released last year, follows former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and the 21-month period from 1975 when she declared a state of emergency across India.
“This is a very dangerous comment. I don’t know why he has said it. I have been observing Bollywood for the last 50 years, and if I have seen any place free of communal tensions, it is Bollywood. If you have talent, you will get opportunities, and if you don’t have talent, then religion is not a factor in whether you get work or not,” novelist and columnist Shobhaa De told ANI.
Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar also disagreed with Rahman, and said he has “never felt this way” and believed it was the composer’s stature that may be the reason for him not getting work.
“I meet people here in Mumbai. They have great respect for him. People may think that he has become very busy in the West. They may think that his shows are very big. He spends a lot of time in those shows. So, he may not be available for us,” he told IANS.
“Rahman is such a big man. Even a small producer is afraid to go to him. But I don’t think there is any communal element in this.”
Journalist Swati Chaturvedi wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that she had once requested him to sing his songs “Maa Tujhe Salaam (I salute the motherland)” and “Vande Mataram (I bow to thee, Mother)” from his 1997 album, but “throughout the half an hour he steadfastly refused”.
However, not all industry figures joined in the criticism. Singer Chinmayi Sripaada commented on Chaturvedi’s post and pointed out that Rahman performs the song at nearly every concert.
“Maybe he felt his voice was not at its best or just didn’t feel like singing that day when you interviewed him. And that’s OK,” she wrote.
Indian lyricist and comedian Varun Grover wrote on X: “The greatest living composer of the last 3 decades got attacked and abused (even by people within the industry) for stating an opinion in the politest, mildest manner, that too based on his lived-experience.
“And the very next day forced to issue an apology/clarification to calm the toxic mob down.”
Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti also defended Rahman, calling out Akhtar’s statement on the composer.
“Bollywood has always been a living mini India mirroring the country’s social realities. Brushing aside such experiences does not change the truth about today’s India,” she wrote on X.
India Hate Lab, a project of the Washington, DC-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate, had observed that there was a sharp rise in hate speech incidents targeting religious minorities in India in 2024. The country recorded 1,165 hate speech events that year, a 74.4 per cent increase from 2023, the report said. And in 2025 hate speech targeting religious minorities surged in the aftermath of the country’s border conflict with Pakistan.
