Abhijeet Bhattacharya mocks AR Rahman’s ‘unsystematic’ way of working: ‘Recording at 3:33 am in the name of creativity…’

Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya opened up about his sole collaboration with AR Rahman, and said that the Oscar-winning composer wasn't even present during the recording session.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: January 4, 2025 04:28 PM IST

3 min read

AR Rahman and Abhijeet Bhattacharya collaborated only once.

Controversial singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya opened up about his less-than-positive working experience with the Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman. They collaborated only on one song, “Ae Nazneen Suno Na,” and said that Rahman kept delaying the recording, and eventually wasn’t even present in the studio. He made a reference to Rahman’s rumoured preference for working at odd hours, and said that not every practice can be forgiven in the name of creativity.

In an interview with Bollywood Thikana, the singer was asked why he has collaborated only once with Rahman. He said, “During that time, I was getting calls from all the major composers. Anu Malik would be on the line, and then Anand-Milind would call, and then Jatin-Lalit would call. I was busy dubbing all the time. I went (to meet Rahman) and was left waiting at the hotel.”

Also read – ‘Shah Rukh Khan’s fellow stars would call him hakla behind his back’: Abhijeet Bhattacharya says SRK hasn’t had a single memorable song after they fell apart

He continued, “I decided that I can’t keep waiting, and that we could record in the morning. At 2 am, I get a call summoning me to the studio. Am I crazy? I said that I was asleep. I went in the morning, but he was not there. They don’t have the habit of working at regular hours. I’m used to working in a systematic manner. Now, in the name of creativity, if you say that you will record at 3:33 am, I don’t get it.”

Abhijeet said that on that day, an assistant of Rahman’s was at the studio, and that he was the one in charge. “Because of the air-conditioning in my room, I had a cold. But he insisted that I sing. I’ve done a lot of hit songs for super-flop movies, and this was one of them. Nobody watched the film. The song belongs to Rahman,” he said, giving credit where it’s due. He added, “I kept asking for Rahman, but didn’t get a firm answer. An artiste doesn’t become big or small by doing these things… I was told that I should have waited for him and left later. But I told them that I had prior commitments.

Abhijeet also spoke about almost doing playback in the film Rangeela, and said that this was the first time that he saw Rahman working at regular hours. In an earlier interview with Lehren Retro, he had described the process of working with Rahman as ‘unmusical’. “They called me saying the song has been changed, and since Udit has already sung for the character, your vocals will be used in a different way. I realised that this is not a place for music. He was just recording patches,” he said.

From the homepage