Bollywood composer Ismail Darbar is known for the music he has given to films like Mehbooba, Devdas, and Kisna. He is equally well known for the several anecdotes he shares from the industry and his controversial comments about everything under the sun. During a recent interview, Ismail shared the story behind some of the earlier comments he made regarding his contemporaries AR Rahman and Pritam. While talking to Vickey Lalwani on his podcast, Ismail first gave his two cents about the state of modern music. He sided with the current sound and said, “I won't say things like, Today's music isn't good at all. I like it a lot. There are a lot of people who have been working for a long time and are still making good music. Songs like 'Kalank' or 'Saiyaara' are great, and I listen to the former at least once a week. I liked it so much that even though I have never gotten along with Pritam, I called him up and congratulated him on it.” ALSO READ: ‘Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra didn’t respond to my calls’: Ismail Darbar says finances suffered due to lack of Bollywood support, but he never had to ‘borrow money’ to. When asked to elaborate on the complicated situation between him and Pritam, Ismail said, “The whole rift happened because I called him 'chor' once. Since then he has been miffed with me. Everyone steals music; no one is walking the straight line. Even though I have done it, I have been very honest about it, that the song and tune don't belong to me completely. Even the Kalank song was an imitation, which I got to know later. I thought, 'Faltu call kardiya' (Called Pritam unnecessarily.)” The host then asked him about his comments regarding Rahman winning the Academy Award for his music in Slumdog Millionaire. According to the host, the Oscar Academy contacted Ismail after he accused Rahman of buying his award. Ismail responded and said, “They called me up and told me that they were going to charge me with slander and asked me to give them proof of the claims I had made. I told them, 'Come over here, and I will give you proof.' No one ever showed up; everyone ran away. That's because it was the truth. People don't have the strength to speak the truth. I will still stand by the statements I have made in the past. I never apologised for saying anything to anyone. But I did relay a message to Rahman, apologising for criticising such an important achievement of his.” However, these aren’t the only fractured relationships Ismail is walking around with. In the same interview, he talked about his falling out with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He said, “Today, if Sanjay comes and says to me, ‘Please do the music for my film; I’ll give you ₹100 crore,’ I’ll tell him, ‘Pehli fursat mein chale jaa yahan se’ (Please leave immediately).”
