Vicky Kaushal’s Chhaava was one of the biggest Bollywood films in 2025. Grossing nearly Rs 1000 crore worldwide, the historical drama’s music was scored by Grammy winner AR Rahman. Known for some of the most popular soundtracks of Bollywood, he claimed, in a recent interview, “Chhaava was divisive.” Additionally, he felt that the use of terms like ‘Subhanallah’ in the negative context was ‘cringe’.
Speaking to BBC’s Asian Network, AR Rahman opened up about his experience of composing music for Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana. Explaining how despite being a Muslim by birth, he studied in a Brahmin school and read about the Ramayana and Mahabharat everyday. However, working on the blockbuster Chhaava, he found the film to be ‘divisive’.
‘Chhaava cashed on divisiveness’
Speaking to the BBC interviewer, Rahman agreed with the opinion that Chhaava was a divisive film. Affirming, he said, “It is divisive. I think it cashed on divisiveness. However, the core of it is to show the bravery.”
He then recalled his interaction with director Laxman Utekar, who ‘needed only’ AR Rahman for the film. “It was an enjoyable film, but definitely, people are smarter than that. Do you think people are going to get influenced by movies? They have something called internal conscience, which knows what the truth is, and what manipulation is.” He further called the use of ‘subhanallah’ and ‘mashallah’ in negative connotations ‘cringe’.
While Chhaava was successful at the box office, its release sparked riots in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, which, as per Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, were a display of ‘anger at Aurangzeb’. Chaava is a period film based on Maratha Sambhaji Maharaj, who valiantly faced the last Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb. It also starred Akshaye Khanna who appeared alongside Ranveer Singh in Dhurandhar as Rahman Dakait.
‘We can replace the bad’
The music maestro also told BBC Asian Network that the artist had the power to bring change to the film industry that is becoming increasingly divisive. He opined, “That’s the reason God is giving more power to people like us so that we can replace the bad with good by word, action, art.”
In fact, in times like these, artists become selective with the kind of film they want to associate with. Speaking about choosing projects and avoiding divisive films, Rahman said, “Some films are made with bad intentions. I try to avoid those movies.” However, while he did feel Chhaava to be a divisive film, he decided to work on the soundtrack, not only per Utekar’s request, but also because of his ‘faith in humanity.’