A.R. Rahman- “It is very easy to divide people through art; this is the time to unite and celebrate differences” : Bollywood News

Musician A.R. Rahman's speech at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Dakshin - South India Media and Entertainment Summit has gone viral on social media. In his speech, the Oscar-winning musician spoke about the need to unite with art and put up a powerful front.

A.R. Rahman- “It is very easy to divide people through art; this is the time to unite and celebrate differences”

In his speech, A.R Rahman also spoke about how the barrier between the north and south India is breaking due to art and the movies. “A Chinese gentleman, a very nice man, he was telling me, ‘You are from India, I like India, I like North India better. They are fairer. Their movies are much more charming.’ I was thinking, has he seen south Indian movies? I think it deeply disturbed me. Then what I discovered is, in my humble opinion, is to cast people of colour, make them empowering and give them characters that give them dignity. This is the most important thing south Indians can do because we love our colour and represent them in the most glorious and dignified way," he said.

"South India and North India, I think India is India for me. It doesn't matter. Somebody does good here, North Indian benefit, somebody does good there, we benefit. The borders are broken," he further said.

“We need to empower ourselves and through art it is much easier. Imagination should not be just for South Indians, just for our culture, I think we need to lead in thoughts; we need to lead in stories. We need to show the world what minds we are, what culture we have, in the most international way. It is very easy to divide people through art, through movies; this is the time to unite. This is the time to celebrate differences. This is the time to show unity so that we can be more powerful,” he added.

The two-day summit at the Chennai Trade Centre was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday.

ALSO READ: AR Rahman and son Ameen Grammys 2022 in Las Vegas; interact with superstars BTS