Oscar award-winning 'Jai Ho' not composed by AR Rahman, alleges director

MUMBAI: AR Rahman rose to global fame after his song 'Jai Ho' from the film Slumdog Millionaire won the Academic Award for Best Original Song in 2009. Now, director Ramgopal Varma has made a big claim that the song was not composed by AR Rahman but by Sukhwinder Singh. His revelation was in an interview given to Film Companion.

The song Jai Ho was originally composed for the 2008 Salman Khan film Yuvraaj directed by Subhash Ghai. But the song was not used in the film due to some reasons. Later, the tune was used in Slumdog Millionaire.

"When Subhash Ghai came to know about the incident, he lost it. He told Rahman, ‘I am paying you crores of rupees as my music director and you are making Sukhwinder make a tune for me. You have the guts to say that in front of me? If I want Sukhwinder, I’ll sign him, who are you to take my money and make Sukhwinder do the music for me?".

"Sir, you are paying for my name, not my music. If I am endorsing it, it becomes mine. Now you happen to be here, how do you know where I took Taal music from? My driver could have done it, maybe someone else, whatever else," Rahman replied.

The lyrics for the songs of Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle in 2009, was done by Gulzar and Tanvi. 'Jai Ho' was sung by AR Rahman, Sukhwinder Singh, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Vijay Prakash. In 2009, Jai Ho won the Oscar in the Best Original Song category. Apart from Oscar, the song also won Golden Globe and BAFTA awards.