Those are not my values: AR Rahman on composing in Deepa Mehta’s Fire, featuring a lesbian story

Entertainment: Amid debate over the legalisation of same-sex marriage, renowned Global icon AR Rahman has claimed that he chose to compose for Deepa Mehta’s 1996 drama, Fire – first Indian film to feature a lesbian relationship – despite those were not his values.

In an interview with Galatta Plus, Rahman was asked if he is able to separate his personal thoughts and values from what a film stands for.

‘As a personal choice, what I stand for is different. Even when I did Fire, it was a lesbian movie. My values are different and what I stand for but I feel like I can stand for humanity. I felt like I needed to do the movie because she is trying to say something important. Similarly, with this (Ponniyin Selvan:II) there’s killing and all that stuff but that’s history, you can’t target it,” he said.

Notably, Fire had a controversial release as it faced massive backlash and protests by different outfits for ‘tarnishing’ Indian culture.