Kamal Ghorui
Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman recently found himself at the centre of a heated debate after the remarks he made during a recent interview. He revealed during the conversation that he’s been getting less work in Hindi cinema since the last eight years and the reason for it could be because the decision making is increasingly controlled by ‘people who are not creative’. He also hinted that it may be communal thing. This led to a debate within the industry and many other celebs have weighed in on it. Now actor Arun Govil known for playing Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar‘s ‘Ramayan’ has now spoken on it. At an event organised by the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) and the Cine Artiste Welfare Trust (CAWT), he told PTI, “In our industry, it has never happened where people have not got work due to communal bias. There are examples of this in our industry. In our industry, people of every religion have worked. Even today, there is no such thing. In fact, the film industry is the only industry where there is no communal bias.”Further supporting his argument, Govil pointed to the long history of Muslim actors dominating the mainstream. He added, “Earlier, we’ve had actors like Dilip Kumar, he was the king of the industry in his time. Even today, Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir, they are all stars, if there were communal bias, how would they have become stars.”The controversy stems from Rahman’s comments in an interview with BBC Asian Network, where he was asked whether he ever felt sidelined in Bollywood for being a Tamil composer. He responded that he did not experience such feelings when he began his career in the 1990s, saying, “Maybe I never got to know of this, maybe it was concealed by God, but I didn’t feel any of this.” He went on to add, “The past eight years, maybe, 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.” During the same conversation, Rahman also criticised Chhaava for capitalising on “divisiveness.”Following the backlash, Rahman later released a video statement to clarify his comments.
