Did Ram Gopal Varma claim Sukhwinder Singh was real composer of ‘Jai Ho’ and not AR Rahman? Director breaks silence: ‘He’s the last person to…’

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Now, Varma himself has stepped forward, offering clarification and maintaining that he is being misquoted and that his remarks are being misread out of context. “To all concerned, I am being misquoted and misread out of context in the matter of the Jai Ho song. In my view, AR Rahman 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,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Known for his controversial and unfiltered remarks, Varma once said during a conversation with Telugu YouTube channel iDream Media, “Rahman was doing a film called Yuvvraaj for Subhash Ghai… and Rahman is notorious for delays. One day, Rahman was arriving from the airport. Sukhwinder Singh was also there, doing something. Rahman came and said ‘Hi’ and asked Sukhwinder right in front of Suubhash Ghai, ‘Did you compose?’ Sukhwinder said yes and played a song, and Rahman said he liked it.”

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…

— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) January 21, 2026

Varma continued, “He then asked Subhash if he liked it. Subhash got angry and started shouting at Rahman, saying, ‘I’m paying you Rs 3 crore for you to compose music… If I wanted Sukhwinder, I would have signed him directly. Why do I need you?’ Rahman replied, ‘Mind your tongue, Mr Ghai, you are paying for my name, not my work. Don’t get confused. I only asked, if you like it? I did not tell you to accept it. If you didn’t like it, I’ll do another song.’ Rahman said this and then left for Chennai.”

“Sukhwinder told me that Rahman later called him and asked him to complete the song and email it to him. That was it. Then one year later, Rahman’s manager sent a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to Sukhwinder. Seeing this, he asked what the money was for. The manager said, ‘You made a song for Yuvvraaj, right? Rahman sold it to someone else, and this Rs 5 lakh is your share.’ Who did Rahman sell the song to? Team Slumdog Millionaire and the song was ‘Jai Ho’,” he claimed.

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Penned by Gulzar and Tanvi Shah, “Jai Ho” was sung by Sukhwinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer, and Vijay Prakash. Subhash Ghai himself once revealed that Rahman originally composed “Jai Ho” for Yuvvraaj but he decided not to use it, feeling it wouldn’t fit the movie’s tone. It was amid all this that Varma’s claim first surfaced.

However, Sukhwinder himself later dismissed it, asserting that Rahman was the creator of the song. “I have only sung it. Ram Gopal Varma ji koi chhoti hasti toh nahi hain… Shayad unhe kuchh galat pata chala hoga (Ram Gopal Varma is not a novice. He must have misunderstood something),” he said during a conversation with Hindustan Times in 2024.