3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Feb 1, 2026 02:45 PM IST
Last month, AR Rahman made headlines for suggesting that the Hindi film industry may have become more “communal” in recent years. He later clarified that his intentions were misunderstood. Now, on the latest episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show, the Oscar-winning music composer pointed out how the whisper game played on the show was a great way to demonstrate how messages get corrupted in transit.
“This is a good exercise to see how information gets misunderstood. Different states, different cultures. The problem with the world is this, how messages get corrupted on the way,” he said.
AR Rahman was on the show to promote his latest film as a composer, Kishor Pandurang Belekar’s silent film Gandhi Talks, along with the cast — Vijay Sethupathi, Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth Jadhav.
Talking about the music of Gandhi Talks, Rahman said, “If there are no dialogues, it’s such a celebration of music. Because you have all the real estate to do music, but also terrifying because people will be judging. Every note will be exposed.” But he also added that Belekar is the first filmmaker to not find fault in any of his compositions. “He’s the first director who never came and told me anything negative and said, ‘I don’t like this.’ Whatever I give, he takes it. Even if I play ‘tang’, he would say yes,” quippd the Oscar-winning composer.
Earlier, AR Rahman opened up on how around 2019, filmmakers would appreciate his old albums, gaslighting him into believing that he wasn’t doing good work anymore. “For the past six years, to be frank, when people come to you, the ’90s generation have a certain nostalgia, certain affinity towards your music. The same goes for those born in 2000s, and so on for those from the next decade. They come and gaslight you. They say, ”In the ’90s, you did Roja (1992). That’s very good music, sir!’ That feels like now, you’re not doing good music, right? It actually harms your thinking if you’re not in your best mood,” confessed Rahman to The Hollywood Reporter India.
That prompted him to do 20-30 movies in the last six years, allowing him to evolve as an artiste and restore faith in himself. However, in an interview with BBC Asian Network, Rahman also revealed how he’s been offered less work in the last eight years because of a “power shift” in the Hindi film industry. “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. It comes to me as Chinese whispers that they booked you but the music company went ahead and hired their five composers,” said Rahman. His remarks created a furore, forcing him to offer a clarification a couple of days later.
