In 1997, AR Rahman was 30. After five years of composing film music that had made him one of India’s most beloved composers, he was brimming with freshness and an eagerness to create something beyond music for cinema. The timing was perfect – India was celebrating 50 years of its independence and Sony Music was entering the subcontinent. Maa Tujhe Salaam: Vande Mataram flowed out of his recording studio and into the hearts and minds of a new generation, making it a sort of young anthem, celebrating India.
The idea, Rahman said back then, was to revive the spirit of oneness of India and to make everyone sing Vande Mataram, the national song, with pride. It goes beyond caste or religion or anything, he said. It connects the people of India with all their many differences to their mother[land], he believed. Maa Tujhe Salaam - meaning ‘salute to you, mother’ - became Thaai Manney Vanakkam in Tamil. It worked. The song, in Rahman’s voice, was picked up with elan, sung and heard all over the country.
When Rahman spoke - with his music - people listened. He had come to cinema with the songs of Roja (1992) – a nationalistic film told through a love story, that came in the same year as the Babri Masjid demolition. He composed for Bombay (1994), a film that stood for communal harmony. A new kind of soulfulness emerged through his music. He went on to create whole new sounds with Thiruda Thiruda (1993) and magical melodies with Kadhalan (1994).
When he crossed borders to make Hindi music, vibrantly for Rangeela (1995) and rhythmically for Taal (1999), he was discovered by a fresh audience. When he hosted an episode of Doordarshan’s show for Hindi film songs, Chithrahar, he became the first to play a Tamil song on it – ‘Konjam Nilavu’ from Thiruda Thiruda. He was clearly well-accepted.
In the passing decades, he has accumulated so much in his repertoire – a mix of heady and eclectic collections in cult films like Dil Se (1998), Alaipayudhe (2000), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Swades (2004), Guru (2007), Rockstar (2011), OK Kanmani (2015), Ponniyin Selvan 1 and 2 (2022-23), to name a few. He brought India two Oscars and two Grammys with his work in Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Even now, there is Chamkila (2024) and Maidaan (2024) and the soul-stirring soundtrack of Maamannan (2023).
But in the early days of 2026, memories of his great art were abruptly pushed aside. Instead, came a surge of hostility, some of it new and some long suppressed, shadowing the love and affection of years.
Nearly three decades after Maa Tujhe Salaam, when Rahman was twice the age he had been then and allowed himself to talk openly about prejudice in Hindi films, he found himself overnight, the target of instant, voluminous attack that the new media system enables.
In a one and a half hour interview to the BBC, Rahman said, when he was asked about the prejudice in Bollywood against the Tamil community, that he ‘did not get to know all this stuff, maybe god concealed all this stuff’. He acknowledged that no other composer had ‘crossed the border and survived there’, except for Ilayaraja who composed music for a few movies that were not mainstream.
“So for me to cross and then [their] embracing me was a huge rewarding experience. They embraced me and still do. It is a beautiful thing. I am honored and grateful,” Rahman said.
But, he added, “The past eight years maybe, because the power shift has happened, because people who are not creative now have the power to decide things. And it might have been a communal thing also, but not in my face. I hear chinese whispers.”
This is what brought on the storm.
The word communal was plucked out and thrown all over the internet, to cast Rahman as someone who wronged the industry that nurtured him, to paint him as an outdated musician who was grumpy over younger and newer talents. The creator of Maa Tuje Salam, an anthem that reignited the spirit of unity at a time when nationalism was not so fervently discussed, was forced to reiterate his love for India. Rahman posted a fresh video to defend himself against the unprecedented attack.
“India is my inspiration, my teacher and home. I under the intentions can sometimes be misunderstood. But my purpose has always been to uplift, honor and serve through music. I have never wished to cause pain and I hope my sincerity is felt. I feel blessed to be Indian which enables to create a space which always allow freedom of expression and celebrates multicultural voices (sic),” he said.
He named some of his recent projects to promote multiculturalism, mentioned a presentation before BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his composition for the upcoming film Ramayana with the legendary composer Hans Zimmer.
Right wing handles still sprang on him like they were waiting with a hand on the mouse for this very moment for years. His words were construed to be a criticism of Hinduism and his Muslim-name was plucked out and targeted. BJP politician and actor Kangana Ranaut called him prejudiced and hateful, miffed apparently because, she added, he refused to compose for her film Emergency (2025) since he didn’t want to be part of a propaganda film.
In his BBC interview, Rahman said that he tried to stay away from divisive films. Acknowledging the question about such attempts, Rahman said, “That’s the reason I think god is giving more power to people like us so they can replace the bad with good by words, by action, by art.” He admitted that Chhaava (2025), a Hindi periodic film he worked in was divisive, but he thought the core of it was to show bravery, and added that people were smart and they would know the difference between truth and manipulation.
Rahman spoke easily, about his faith in humanity, love, compassion and the spirituality in his art. But he was answering questions, and not pointedly expressing opinions. He has not been one to make open statements about the affairs in the world that displeased him. He lived so visibly in his art that it was not easy to picture him outside of it, in any setting minus his music.
He never spoke of intolerance when that had been the most discussed word in the country a decade ago. He did not outrightly condemn communal violence or hate crimes. He quietly created small worlds of peace that his music could whip up. A rare deviation came in 2017 when he made a spinoff of one of his early songs ‘Take it easy Urvasi’ and took small digs on demonetisation and American president Donald Trump. Ainooru roopa sellama pona, take it easy Urvasi - said one of the lines, meaning: if the 500 rupee note becomes useless, take it easy Urvasi.
He has also made subtle references to his opposition to Hindi imposition. In 2022, after Union Minister Amit Shah pushed for Hindi for communication between states, Rahman posted an image with the caption Tamizhanangu, meaning goddess Tamil. At the end of his Oscar acceptance speech in 2009, Rahman famously ended with the Tamil line Ellapugazhum Iraivanukee - God is great. He also said, “All my life I've had a choice of hate and love. I chose love and I'm here.”
In his BBC interview too, he said that he never spoke Hindi when he first began to compose in Bollywood but director Subash Gai had advised him to learn the language since he wanted him to stay longer there. Rahman went one step further, and learned Urdu too, he said, for it was the mother of Hindi music in the 60s and 70s.
In 2018, when singer Chinmayi Sripada spoke out about sexual harassment by renowned Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu, and this was followed by several other women complaining about similar experiences with the writer, the backlash was immediate and harsh. She lost opportunities for years. While Rahman did not name Vairamuthu, he put out a statement expressing shock on learning the names involved. Rahman and Vairamuthu had worked together on several acclaimed albums, including Rahman’s first, Roja. But he did not associate with Vairamuthu after Chekka Chivantha Vaanam in 2018.
One of the first expressions of support for Rahman, after the BBC interview backlash, came from Chinmayi. She came to his defence when a journalist brought up an old interview in which Rahman had allegedly refused to sing Maa Tujhe Salaam. The journalist had made the comment to make a point about his attitude, in light of his remarks on communalism. Chinmayi recounted singing Vande Mataram with Rahman to a crowd in November 2025 and added that he sang it at almost every concert.
"Maybe he felt his voice was not at its best or just didn’t feel like singing that day when you interviewed him. And that’s OK. The responses under this tweet ‘OH THAT EXPLAINS IT’ shows exactly what’s gone wrong in the recent past," Chinmayi wrote.
But not all artists took his side. Writer Shobhaa Dee pronounced Rahman's observation "a very dangerous comment" at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
Lyricist Javed Akhtar, known for his vocal criticism of the ruling BJP, too disagreed with Rahman, but added that Rahman was a great composer and people were only scared to reach him because he is too big. Singer Shaan, who has sung for Rahman in dubbed Hindi films like Boys, too denied there being 'any communal or minority angle' in Bollywood.
However, the many many admirers and listeners of Rahman’s music have spoken for him, listing out albums after albums to underline his greatness and the moments that speak for itself about his love for the motherland. Some ridiculed the ‘critics’ for not even learning his spelling after all these years - giving an ‘e’ to Rahman like they give a second ‘e’ to Kerala. Others added that he does not need to prove anything to make an honest comment but one can't help looking at the evidence -- in his vast body of work -- that is so overwhelming.