AR Rahman hints at losing work in Bollywood over past 8 years: ‘Maybe a communal thing’

AR Rahman discussd feeling like outsider in Bollywood until Taal, highlighted a recent power shift in the industry that has affected his work opportunities.

Over the years, Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has given Indian cinema some of its most iconic songs and continues to do so. However, in a recent conversation with BBC Asian Network, Rahman revealed how a shift in power dynamics in the Hindi film industry affected the work coming his way.

AR Rahman on feeling like an outsider until Subhash Ghai's Taal

AR Rahman talked about the recent power shift in Bollywood.

Rahman revealed that, as a Tamil composer scoring music in Bollywood, he felt like an outsider until Subhash Ghai’s Taal. He said, “Actually, I was still an outsider with these three (Roja, Bombay, Dil Se..), but Taal became a household (album). It entered the kitchens of everybody, so to say. Even now, most North Indians still have it in their blood because it’s a little bit of Punjabi and a little bit of Hindi and a little bit of mountain music. It’s very difficult for a Tamil person to speak Hindi because we have such attachment.”

He recalled how Subhash Ghai asked him to learn Hindi, after which he decided to learn Urdu because it was the mother of Hindi film music in the 1960s and ’70s. The composer then went on to learn Arabic, as it is very similar to Urdu in terms of pronunciation, and later got into Punjabi because of Sukhwinder Singh’s influence.

The composer has scored the soundtrack for Vijay Sethupathi’s upcoming film Gandhi Talks. The silent drama, directed by Kishor Pandurang Belekar and produced by Zee Studios along with Kyoorius and Moviemill, also stars Arvind Swamy, Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth Jadhav in key roles. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on January 30.

Apart from this, AR Rahman also has Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana in the pipeline. For the film, he has collaborated with Grammy-winning composer Hans Zimmer. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, Sunny Deol and Yash in lead roles and is slated for a theatrical release on Diwali 2026.