Mumbai: Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman has sparked a controversy by collaborating with sexual harassment-accused choreographer Jani Master for a song in Ram Charan-starrer ‘Peddi’.
Rahman faced a massive backlash on social media, with disappointed netizens calling his decision of working with Jani ‘insensitive’.
Jani took to Instagram on November 9 to share photos with Rahman and director Buchi Babu Sana after choreographing the song for Ram Charan’s film.
“We grew up watching and dancing to Legendary @arrahman Sir’s songs and I can’t believe I choreographed this chartbuster #ChikiriChikiri in his composition. Thank you for your kind words of support Sir… Grateful for the opportunity Mega Power Star @alwaysramcharan Anna #BuchiBabuSana garu @rathnaveludop Sir & entire @peddimovieoffl movie Team (folded hand emoji),” Jani said.
As soon as the photos went viral, several social media users slammed Rahman for teaming up with Jani.
One Reddit user commented, “It’s hard to believe that he doesn’t know about his allegations.”
Another person mentioned, “The entire film industry doesn’t give a flying f**k about sexual assault, just recently Mari Selvaraj and Nivas decided to work with Vedan despite all his allegations and nobody called them out for it.”
One user commented, “The film industry is rotten.”
“How is jani any different from vairamuthu, if ARR outright rejected vairamuthu why doesn’t he do the same to this pdf,” read one comment.
“Posing with an ex-felon. A lot of celebs have selective amnesia but I truly didn’t expect this from ARR,” shared one person.
“So due to the lack of good men, we are now recycling pedophiles, rapists and molesters?” fumed a Reddit user.
“Never expected this from Rahman. He stopped working with talented Singer Karthik. I respect his principle. But why is he comfortable working with Jani? Might as well Collab with Karthik as well. Say no to hypocrisy,” opined one user.
Another wrote, “Wasn’t he expelled from the dancers association for POCSO charges? Then how’s he getting chances again to work?And ARR choosing to not work with Vairamuthu for a case that’s not been charged while happily posing with a pedo who’s under bail is something I can’t wrap around.”
Another post read, “Film Industry is still feeding Rapists Misogynist & the So-called Big celebrities never failed to disappoint me.”
For the unversed, in September 2024, Jani was apprehended in Goa by Cyberabad police from Hyderabad. He was produced before a city court in Hyderabad, which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.
A woman, who worked as an assistant to Jani, in her police complaint, alleged that he had sexually assaulted her during a work trip to Mumbai in 2020.
On September 15, the Narsingi Police had registered a case under sections 376(2)(n), 506, 323 of IPC.
Following the incident, Jani’s National Film Award was suspended by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Besides Ram Charan, ‘Peddi’ also stars Janhvi Kapoor, Shiva Rajkumar, Jagapathi Babu and Divyendu Sharma and is slated to be released on March 27, 2026.