'Can be disastrous and annoying': AR Rahman on Bollywood's remix trend

AR Rahman is a global icon and there is no denying that. He is a recipient of many accolades, two Academy Awards, one BAFTA, one Golden Globe, one Grammy, and six National Awards, among others.

The musician is widely known for his unique music and how he manages to blend western and Indian instruments in many popular movies such as Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Dil Se… (1998), Rang De Basanti (2006), Rockstar (2011), in a career spanning over two decades. 

In an interview, AR Rahman, also known as the Mozart of Madras spoke about why he has been away from Bollywood for so long, "I was concentrating on my movie, 99 Songs, which is yet to release and Dil Bechara, which is supposed to come out. I was also doing Tamil movies. My time was divided between my productions, building a studio, and spending time with my kids and nurturing them into musicians. That required a lot of attention and a lot of time. And now, they are almost on track (laughs). You have to play all the roles. I am satisfied with the time I have spent with them."

Further speaking about the trend of remaking originals in Bollywood and whether he liked any of his songs being remixed, AR Rahman said, "The one which I was happy with was The Humma Song (Ok Jaanu; 2017) as it helped the movie. However, after that, I didn’t like any of them. Some of them are really disastrous and very annoying. In fact, I told the company who made the remix, ‘You are forcing me to support this but I hate this one, and people are going to troll me if I support this’. As far as the trend is concerned, it’s over. I think people are realising that music needs love and finding a song for the movie, rather than taking the fast-food route."