Ram Gopal Varma clarifies his statement about AR Rahman not composing the Oscar-winning song 'Jai Ho', calls him 'greatest composer and the nicest human being'; netizens react

Amidst AR Rahman's latest remarks about the industry going communal because of which he is getting less work here in the last eight years, an old interview of Ram Gopal Varma went viral. In this particular viral video, RGV can be heard saying that it was Sukhwinder Singh who has composed Jai Ho and not AR Rahman. In this interview, he recalled how Subhash Ghai was angry on Rahman as he was making him wait for the songs of 'Yuvraaj' while had even got dates from Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. He later made him hear this song composed by Singh which Ghai rejected. Eventually, that song was sold off to 'Slumdog Millionaire'. That song was 'Jai Ho' for which Rahman won an Oscar. While RGV's statements had gone viral when this interview was out in 2024, Sukhwinder singh had clarified and said that he just has sung the song but it was composed by Rahman.

And now as the 'Rangeela' director's video has gone viral again, he has now shared a clarification. He took to his X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, "To all concerned .. I am being misquoted and misread out of context in the matter of the Jai ho song . .. in my view @arrahman is the greatest composer and the nicest human being I ever met and he’s the last person to take away anybody’s credit ..I hope this puts an end to the negativism surrounding the issue."




For those not in the know, in the viral clip, the filmmaker was seen saying, “Rahman was doing a film called Yuvvraaj for Subhash Ghai, and Rahman is notorious for delays… On this day, Rahman was arriving from the airport and Sukhwinder was there, doing something. Rahman came and said hi and asked Sukhwinder right in front of Subhash Ghai, ‘Did you compose?’ Sukhwinder said yes, played a song, and Rahman said he liked it and asked if Subhash liked it. Subhash got angry and started shouting at Rahman saying, ‘I’m paying you ₹3 crore for you to do it… I also can get Sukhwinder to do it, why do I need you?’"

“Rahman said in reply, ‘Mind your tongue, Mr Ghai, you are paying for my name, not my work, don’t get confused. I only said, did you like it … I did not say accept it; if you don’t like it, I’ll do another song.’ Rahman said this and then left for Chennai. Sukhwinder told me that Rahman later called him and asked him to complete the song and email it to him. That was it. Then, one year later, Rahman’s manager sent a cheque for ₹5 lakh to Sukhwinder, and Sukhwinder asked why. The manager said, ‘You made a song for Rahman, and Rahman sold it to a party, and this ₹5 lakh is your share. Who did Rahman sell the song to? Slumdog Millionaire and the song Jai Ho," RGV added.

Netizens had a mixed reaction to Varma's clarification. A user reshared the video to him and said, "The context RGV is talking about AR Rahman"



Some users appreciated RGV. A person wrote, "So RGV clarifies the negativism surrounding AR Rahman Jai Ho Song ��" A person commented, "It’s time to stop the misinformation. �� I’m seeing @arrahman being misquoted regarding ‘Jai Ho’ credits. Let’s be clear: Rahman is the architect of that masterpiece. Even Sukhwinder Singh has called him the brainchild behind it. Don't let viral clips distort a legacy of integrity. ⚪️��"

Meanwhile, a person said, "Love the sarcasm in the post." Another one wrote, "You had clearly said the opposite in your interview. Chicken ����‍♂️"

Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”