Mehbooba Mufti agrees with musician A.R. Rahman’s ‘communal bias in Bollywood’ remarks

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday (January 18, 2026) seconded the claim of music composer A.R. Rehman that there was “communal bias in Bollywood”.

In a post on X, Ms. Mufti said, “Bollywood has always been a living mini-India mirroring the country’s social realities. Brushing aside such experiences does not change the truth about today’s India.”

She also contested the statement of lyricist Javed Akhtar. “When Javed Akhtar dismisses A.R. Rahman’s concerns about the growing communalisation of Bollywood he contradicts lived and shared realities of Indian Muslims including those of his own wife Shabana Azmi, who has openly spoken about being denied housing for being Muslim in a cosmopolitan city like Bombay,” she said.