A.R. Rahman recently hinted at possible communal bias while speaking about reduced work in Hindi cinema. Despite this, the composer has a packed slate of major projects across Hindi and South Indian films
AR Rahman
AR Rahman is making headlines for his recent statement hinting at communal bias in the film industry. The composer said that work for him has slowed down in the past eight years, attributing it to changing power dynamics over the past few years and hinting at a possible “communal thing”. Amid this, we take a look at the Oscar-winning composer's upcoming lineup.
AR Rahman's lineup
The composer starts the year with the film Gandhi Talks. The film which has no spoken dialogue, stars Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swamy, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Siddharth Jadhav. The film will be released in theatres on January 30, 2026. With no dialogues, the film will rely heavily on music directed by Rahman.
Apart from Gandhi Talks, Rahman has an impressive lineup of movies to look forward to. In Hindi, he has Nitesh Tiwari's directorial Ramayana, Gandhi series directed by Hansal Mehta, Rajkumar Santoshi's Lahore 1947, and Untitled Diljit Dosanjh and Imtiaz Ali project.
Down south, Rahman has been roped in for the music of Ram Charan's Peddi, Moonwalk, Untitled Lijo Jose Pellissery film, Kamal Aur Meena, Killer, and Genie.
What did AR Rahman say about communal bias?
The music composer AR Rahman in an interview to BBC Asian Network, had said the reasons often reach him indirectly and tagged it as “Chinese whispers".
He went on to say in the interview: "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."
Talking about working on Ramayana, he said, "I studied in a Brahmin school, and every year we had Ramayana and Mahabharata, so I know the story. The story is about how virtuous a person is, higher ideals, and all that stuff. People may argue, but I value all those good things - any good things that you can learn from. The prophet has said that knowledge is something invaluable, no matter where you get it from - a king, a beggar, a good act or a bad one. You can't shy away from things."
Rahman added, "I think we need to elevate from small-mindedness and selfishness. Because when we elevate and we become radiant - we become a radiant of that, and that's very important. I am proud of the whole project, because it's from India to the whole world, with such love. Hanz Zimmer is Jewish, I am Muslim, and the Ramayana is Hindu (text)."
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