A R Rahman in the face of criticism, what the country’s Nazrul music artistes say

Sheikh Arif Bulbon :
Kazi Nazrul Islam called revolution through writing to free the common people from the British oppression.
In the song ‘Karar Oi Louho Kopat’ he also said about protesting against injustice. Starting from the anti-British movement, this
song has inspired people in various crises of this town. ‘Bhangar Gaan’ became the name of inspiration in the great liberation war of Bangladesh. The Oscar
winning Indian music director A R Rahman has come under criticism for starting the song anew.
The song has been used in the recently released Bollywood movie ‘Pippa’. Not only music, but A R Rahman has changed the style and tone of music.
Although Nazrul is credited as the lyricist, A R Rahman’s name is written as the composer. The song has been sung by Rahul Dutta, Tirtho Bhattacharya, Pijush Das, Shalini Mukherjee, Dilasha Chowdhury, Shriya Paul and many Bengali artistes from Kolkata.
The Nazrul Sangeet artistes of West Bengal cannot accept such a change in the tone of Nazrul Sangeet. They were surprised by Rahman’s actions. A storm of criticism is blowing on social media. Along with A R Rahman, the artistes of this song have to listen to the criticism.
However, Rahman is silent on this matter. So far he has not commented on this matter. Criticism is spreading in Bangladesh as well. Nazrul musicians and listeners of our country could not take the matter of changing the tune of the song well. They are strongly protesting. According to many, Rahman has committed a ‘crime’. They think that it should be officially protested.
Government should protest: Sujit Mustafa
‘Karar Oi Louho Kopat’ is a famous song by Kazi Nazrul Islam. We did liberation war with this song. We use this song in different movements. Why should you give it a hand? A R Rahman’s song is not close to the original tune, quite a different tune. The spirit of the song did not come in this melody. He used the song in the movie keeping the original tune of the song. He used to make music like that. There was no problem with that. I think, this matter should be officially protested and the song should be removed quickly. If necessary, A R Rahman should be told, you should make the song again. Another thing is that Nazrul is still under copyright law. And in this song of A R Rahman it has been completely violated. But I don’t know if they have taken any permission from Nazrul’s family in this case.
This is a big ‘crime’: Shaheen Samad
It is really very sad. After listening to the song, I was very upset. I was totally surprised after listening. What a tune! Kazi Nazrul Islam has made the song by setting the tune as desired. If you do that, it won’t happen. A R Rahman can be a great music director, but how did he show so much boldness! It is not his own tune that he did as he pleased. He should know this; this is the song of a national poet. He himself has done the song in such tune. A R Rahman why change this tune? He can’t do it anyway.
It is a great crime. If this issue is tolerated, it will continue to be like this in the future. We have all discussed it at Chhayanaut. Still many people do not know about this matter. I will talk about this at the audience of Chhayanaut. I will tell everyone to protest. Everyone should come together and protest. Not only Nazrul musicians, but all those who love Nazrul should join this protest.
A R Rahman showed irresponsibility: Khairul Anam Shakil
And a composer of such a large scale like Rahman has shown irresponsibility.
He insulted the work of our national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. We strongly protest this matter. We are hoping that it will be officially protested. Not only that, a writ petition was presented to the court to prevent this song from being propagated anywhere in Bangladesh. We also hope to submit a memorandum to the Indian High Commissioner. We will organise a protest rally with all musicians. No one has the right to insult our tradition, the music of that tradition, no matter how great the composer is. We will save the creations which are done by Kazi Nazrul Islam’s own hands, as well as some other composers compose his songs with his inspiration. We will only promote and expand them.