Veteran playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya isn’t one to hold back his thoughts—and this time, he’s taking a sharp dig at not just Artificial Intelligence (AI), but also at music maestro AR Rahman.
In a recent interview with ANI, the ‘Baadshah’ and ‘DDLJ’ hitmaker got candid about what he sees as a crisis in the music industry: the vanishing role of real, live musicians in Bollywood, all thanks to AI and changing technology.
And according to him, the trend didn’t just come out of nowhere—it had a torchbearer. “It all started when Rahman saab came into the picture,” Abhijeet said bluntly. “He told everyone that musicians are no longer needed, everything can be done on a laptop.”
The singer alleged that AR Rahman, known for pioneering electronic elements in Indian film music, unknowingly paved the way for the decline of live music in films. “The musicians who used to play in films are now jobless,” he said, adding that this shift, led by Rahman’s tech-heavy approach, took the soul out of the process and left seasoned instrumentalists sitting at home.
With a mix of concern and sarcasm, Abhijeet went on to say, “Because of him, everyone’s making money—except the musicians. He basically said, ‘I’ll earn it all myself; we don’t need musicians anymore.’”
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But his frustration didn’t stop at Rahman. Abhijeet Bhattacharya took on AI itself, scoffing at the term. “Don’t call it intelligent—just call it artificial,” he quipped. “Whenever I perform on stage, I make sure I have at least 20 musicians behind me. That’s not going to change. They are passionate and doing their best.”
He painted a bleak picture of the current scenario, lamenting that young talents are no longer motivated to learn classical instruments like the sitar or tabla. “Go out and look—try finding a sitar player in today’s market. You won’t. Everyone is making music on laptops now,” he said.
It’s a sobering observation coming from someone who’s been a major voice in Bollywood’s golden era of the ’90s and early 2000s. Abhijeet’s discography is full of blockbuster hits from films like ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, ‘Dhadkan’, ‘Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai’, ‘Tum Bin’, ‘Josh’, and ‘Raaz’—songs that still echo through playlists and weddings alike.