AR Rahman speaks out against song remakes, says 'You can’t reimagine people’s work without their permission'
AR Rahman recently expressed his displeasure about songs being remade in new films and calling them reimaginations.
AR Rahman was recently roped in for an interview with The Week where the master craftsman revealed his displeasure with modern filmmakers remaking old songs and calling them reimaginations.
In the interview, AR Rahman said, “I believe in always following certain ethics. You can’t take a song from a movie and use it in another movie six years later, saying you are reimagining it. You can’t reimagine people’s work without their permission.”
Continuing on the same, the musical maestro also added how people can use such remade tracks and post them on social media but should not make it mainstream. Moreover, the composer also made comments on how AI is being misused by makers which could lead to bigger problems in the future.
The music composer said that by using AI, the makers are not actually paying the original composers whose style they’re borrowing for their own crafts. ARR claims that such instances cause major ethical issues which could even result in people losing jobs.
AR Rahman mentioned that while Artificial Intelligence can certainly assist in the mastering of songs, the creation of music still requires a human touch and a thoughtful perspective. He also expressed his belief that in the future, audiences will gravitate more towards authentic musicians who perform live with just a guitar and their songs, rather than relying solely on digital production, emphasizing that we will come to appreciate the imperfections even more.
Within the same conversation, AR Rahman also addressed why he himself used AI to recreate the voices of late singers Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed. The composer said that Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth wanted a folk voice for a song in Lal Salaam which is when the composer wished for a voice like Shahul’s. Upon thinking about the same, they contacted the families of the late singers and compensated them fairly for allowing them to use their voices.
AR Rahman was last seen composing the tracks and scores for the Dhanush starrer movie Raayan. The composer is next set to be seen working in the films Genie, Thug Life, Kadhalikka Neramillai, and Suriya 45 in Tamil.
Moreover, the musician would also be part of upcoming movies like Chhaava, Tere Ishk Mein, Ram Charan’s RC16, and Ranbir Kapoor starrer Ramayana.