PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar was contradicting the lived realities of Indian Muslims by dismissing music maestro A R Rahman's concerns about the alleged communalisation of Bollywood.
"When Javed Akhtar dismisses A R Rahman's concerns about the growing communalisation of Bollywood, he contradicts lived and shared realities of Indian Muslims including those of his own wife Shabana Azmi, who has openly spoken about being denied housing for being a Muslim in a cosmopolitan city like Bombay," Mufti said in a post on X.
According to media reports, Akhtar said there was no communal element in Rahman getting reduced work opportunities in Bollywood.
"Bollywood has always been a living mini-India mirroring the country's social realities. Brushing aside such experiences does not change the truth about today's India," the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir said.
Recently, AR Rahman remarked that he has received far fewer opportunities in Bollywood over the past eight years, attributing the slowdown to what he described as the industry becoming “communal.”
While the composer maintained that he had not personally faced discrimination, he hinted that changing power structures within the industry could be a contributing factor.
He said, “Maybe I never got to know about this. Maybe it was concealed, but I didn’t feel any of this. Maybe in the past eight years, because a power shift has happened and people who are not creative have the power now. It might be a communal thing also but it is not in my face. It comes to me as Chinese whispers that they booked you, but the music company went ahead and hired their 5 composers. I say good, I have more time to chill with my family. I am not in search for work. I don’t want to go in search for work. I want work to come to me; my sincerity to earn work. Whatever I deserve, I get.”
