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Ram Gopal Varma Clarifies Jai Ho Remarks, Backs AR Rahman

PUBLISHED DATE : 21/Jan/2026

Ram Gopal Varma Clarifies Jai Ho Remarks, Backs AR Rahman

Ram Gopal Varma has issued a clarification after an old interview clip reignited controversy over the authorship of Jai Ho, the Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe-winning song from the British film Slumdog Millionaire (2008).

 

In a controversial interview, Ram Gopal Varma slanderously claimed that it was singer Sukhwinder Singh who composed the track Jai Ho, that AR Rahman's office had paid Rs. 5 lakh to put Rahman's name on the track, and that Bollywood filmmaker Subhash Ghai was a witness to this claim. 

 

After Ram Gopal Varma’s interview went viral in 2024, Jai Ho singer Sukhwinder clarified two years ago that he only sang the song, and added that Ram Gopal Varma is too big of a personality to be misinformed about events in the Indian film industry.

 

"I have only sung it. Ram Gopal Varma is not a novice. He must have been misinformed" - Sukhwinder Singh about Jai Ho in 2024


The Ram Gopal Varma interview was brought into circulation, due to the ongoing slander-fest on X against AR Rahman, after the music composer called the Hindi film Chhaava (2024) divisive, and spoke about the communal discrimination in Bollywood in the last 8 years. The Hindu-core right wing has been busy discrediting AR Rahman's body of work, and used Ram Gopal Varma's interview as one of the tools in their arsenal. 

 

 

At this time Ram Gopal Varma has backtracked on his old claims stating, "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."

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