Jaaved Jaaferi reacts to AR Rahman’s remarks; says 'Industry and values have changed'

Actor Jaaved Jaaferi is getting ready for the release of his upcoming film 'Mayasabha'. While promoting the film, he spoke openly about how the industry has changed over the years. Jaaved has spent more than forty years working in films, TV, dance, comedy, and voice work. Because of this long journey, he feels he has seen many changes closely.During the conversation with IANS, Jaaved was asked about the comments made by music composer AR Rahman. Rahman had spoken about “communal” bias and changes in power in the Hindi film industry. Reacting to this, Jaaved did not point fingers at anyone directly. Instead, he spoke about the bigger picture. He said, “Industry has changed like the world has changed. Digital. AI. The world is changing. Fashion is changing, food is changing. Values are changing. Obviously, the narrative is changing.” He also shared something that surprised him. He said, “I just came to know recently that the attention span of Gen Z or Alpha is 6 seconds.”Jaaved explained how this short attention span affects everything today. He said, “Channel heads says that if you cannot capture it in 6 seconds, it's gone.” According to him, this shows how fast things are moving. He added, “It's how rapidly we are changing. That's it. Fine.”He also spoke about how storytelling has changed. Jaaved said, “There has been some structure. There have been some opportunities. You can narrate a story in long-format, in a film, you get limited time.” He then explained the business side by saying, “There are choices but at the same time, there is business. There are numbers. You are making a project. Not a film.”The discussion started after AR Rahman spoke in a recent interview with BBC Asian Network about his experience in Bollywood. He said that work from the Hindi film industry has slowed down for him in recent years. He connected this to shifting power over the last eight years and said it could be “a communal thing.”Rahman explained that these things are not said to him directly. He said, “It comes to me as Chinese whispers.” He added, “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.”He shared an example and said, “It comes to me as Chinese whispers that they booked you, but the music company went ahead and hired their five composers.” Rahman ended it calmly by saying, “I said, ‘Oh, that's great, rest for me, I can chill out with my family.’”