AR Rahman exchanged money for Oscar: Ismail Durbar

Music wizard A.R. Rahman is said to have been hugely upset by the allegations from certain quarters that he had ‘paid heavily’ to bag the twin Oscar awards he won in the year 2008 for his work in Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionnaire’. The allegations have been leveled by Ismail Durbar, one of Bollywood’s popular music directors.

Ismail’s music in director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Salman Khan-Aishwarya starrer ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, which was scored almost a decade back, is still loved by the music lovers for its melodious nature. Speaking to newsmen in Nagpur recently, Durbar has said that he was highly ‘skeptical’ of the way Rahman won the twin-Oscars in 2008 and expressed his apprehension that ‘money could have changed hands’ for giving the awards to Rahman.

“If Rahman deserves an Oscar for music, it should have been given to him either for his work in ‘Roja’ or for ‘Bombay’ and certainly not for ‘Slumdog Millionnaire’. I smell something ‘fishy’ in the whole thing,” said Durbar and denied when he was asked by the scribes as to whether he had any ‘concrete proof’ to back his allegations.

Durbar’s allegations have met with wide-spread protest from inside and outside Bollywood and from Rahman’s fans. Lalith Pandit, a popular composer, has said that “Rahman has brought glory to the country through his music. No such false allegations should be leveled against him by anyone.”

Reacting to the allegations, Rahman vehemently denied that ‘money had changed hands’ for the Oscars and said that “The whole world is watching the Oscar awards selection committee live on TV; I wonder how can anyone hope to influence as many as 3,000 persons to get those awards!”

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3. No Oscars for AR Rahman
4. Rahman in good spirits after Oscar loss
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