Gulzar credits music composer AR Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire’s Jai Ho winning Oscar

A R Rahman’s music has the ability to transcend borders and his international repertoire is incomplere without mentioning Slumdog Millionaire’s popular song ‘Jai Ho’. Composed by Rahman for the 2009 film, ‘Jai Ho’ is the first Hindi song to win an Academy Award in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories. While veteran poet-lyricist Gulzar penned the lyrics, singer Sukhwinder Singh lent his voice to the track. “It was because of A R Rahman the song won the award. Although Sukhwinder Singh also contributed in making the song a hit by putting a lot of energy into it. Overall, I would say we all agree that it was because of the music maestro A R Rahman that the song won the coveted prize,” Gulzar said here at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival, reports  Press Trust of India . While talking about cinema, Gulzar said that it has its own identity and a book cannot entertain people the way films do. “Books may last longer than cinema, but with a book you cannot dance away. It is a totally different medium. A book cannot be shared with the masses like a song,” he said. On 22 January, Slumdog Millionaire completed 10 years since its release in India. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)