New Delhi: Did you know AR Rahman was concerned about ‘offending religious sentiments’ with the popular song, Kun Faya Kun . Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali recently reflected on the making of the Ranbir Kapoor starrer Rockstar’ s song, Kun Faya Kun and said that Rahman wasn’t immediately okay with the idea.
In fact, Imtiaz and Rahman both were wary of offending religious sentiments, but after considering the concerns, they decided to go ahead with the song and rest is history. But why were they concerened about offending religious sentiments?
Why AR Rahman, Imtiaz Ali were concerned?
Kun Faya Kun is directly from the Quran and the sentiment is also invoked in the Bible. In Quran, it means ‘Be, and it is’ and the phrase occurs several times in the Quran, referring to creation by god.
AR Rahman didn’t wanted to offend anybody neither did Imtiaz because whenever we talk about faith, one has to be careful and have sensitivity.
Opening up about the same, Imtiaz shared on Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast, “We were brainstorming about the lyrics; we wanted something nice and traditional. Irshad suggested Kun Faya Kun to Rahman. Rahman was chakachaund (stunned) at the idea, and he asked, ‘Really? Are you sure?’ I didn’t know what the words exactly meant, but both Rahman and Irshad were aware. Kun Faya Kun is directly from the Quran. The sentiment in also invoked in the Bible, and it reminded me of a line that I’d read as a child in the Rig Veda. It basically means, ‘Be, and it was’ in the Bible, or, as I remembered it from the Vedas, ‘Then, even nothingness was not’.”
Imtiaz on concerns of offending religious sentiments
Imtiaz Ali said that he strongly believes that most religious text are trying to communicate the same ideas in different languages. Regardless of whether it’s the Quran or the Bible, or the Rig Veda, when it comes to the idea of creation. “But Rahman didn’t want to offend anybody, we didn’t want to offend anybody, because whenever you talk about faith, you have to be careful because it isn’t our intention to hurt anybody. We asked around, discussed it, and finally decided to go ahead, but with sensitivity. We made sure to be careful not only with the song, but also with the visuals, because we didn’t want offend anyone,” he continued.
Why Imtiaz was disappointed?
The Rockstar director also recalled that at the beginning of shoot at the Nizamuddin Dargah in New Delhi, he was disappointed to learn all his plans would have to be discarded as they couldn’t use trolley at the entire location and can’t put camera at a height greater than that of the Dargah because “those were the rules”. He added, “Our entire shot breakdown was discarded after we reached the location. We were at zero. And then we redesigned the sequence.”
Rockstar re-release
Meanwhile, Ranbir Kapoor’s cult classic Rockstar re-released in theatres to mark Cinema Lovers Day and the film reportedly earned around Rs 1.10 crore in India with the film being screened in a few screens.
About Rockstar
Originally released in 2011, Rockstar was a critical and commercial success and earned strong reviews for Rahman’s music and Ranbir’s performance.
