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3 min readUpdated: Jan 29, 2026 09:49 PM IST
Arijit Singh shocked the music world on Tuesday evening when he announced his retirement from playback singing. The news proved deeply disheartening not only for his fans, but also for admirers of Hindi film music at large. At a time when contemporary music is already perceived to be struggling, imagining the industry without a voice like Arijit’s feels bleak. However, the decision was one he took for his own well-being. Since the day of the announcement, several musicians have wished him well for the journey ahead, while others have fondly recalled his working style and deep passion for music.
Just recently, ahead of Arijit’s retirement, music composer AR Rahman, with whom the singer has delivered several hits, including the more recent, heart-touching song “Vida Karo”, spoke about their collaboration in a chat with BBC Asian Network. Rahman said, “He’s a great musician. He’s a producer; he knows the art of producing and he is reckless also, like working from his village, which is very cool.”
He also added, in the same conversation, how as a music composer he feels proud of singers like Arijit Singh, who have grown in front of him and gone on to carry the baton forward on a global stage. He said, “I love that. I think any success of any musician is success for music itself. And particularly fighting this whole stigma: ‘Oh, musicians are bad people; they are debauched; they are drinking and smoking’, all that stuff from the previous generation. We are losing that, and we have younger role models like, you know, Shreya (Ghoshal) and Arijit, and all of them are clean and giving so much to people. That’s a good thing. I feel proud of them.”
When asked about his best collaboration with Arijit, Rahman pointed to “Agar Tum Saath Ho” from Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha. The song also marked Arijit’s first-ever collaboration with Alka Yagnik.
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While Arijit Singh continues to make headlines, AR Rahman too has been in the news recently. In the same chat, he was asked whether there is ‘prejudice within the Hindi film landscape’ and if, as a Tamilian, he has ever faced discrimination. Rahman responded, “Maybe I never get to know of this, maybe it was concealed but I didn’t feel any of this. Maybe in the past eight years because a power shift has happened and people who are not creative have the power now. It might be a communal thing also… but it is not in my face. It comes to me as Chinese whispers that they booked you but the music company went ahead and hired their 5 composers. I say good, I have more time to chill with my family. I am not in search for work. I don’t want to go in search for work. I want work to come to me; my sincerity to earn work. Whatever I deserve, I get.”
The comment drew severe backlash online, following which Rahman later issued an apology statement saying he “never wished to cause pain.”
