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Zoya Afroz attended the special screening of Gandhi Talks, for which AR Rahman has composed the music. During an interaction with a news agency, the actress shared her personal experience and said she has not faced any discrimination in the industry despite belonging to the same faith as the celebrated music composer

Actress Zoya Afroz, who was recently seen in Taskaree with Emraan Hashmi, expressed disagreement with Oscar and Grammy-winning composer AR Rahman’s recent remarks about discrimination in the film industry based on faith.

Zoya attended the special screening of Gandhi Talks, for which Rahman has composed the music. During an interaction with IANS, Zoya shared her personal experience and said she has not faced any discrimination in the industry despite belonging to the same faith as the celebrated composer.

She told IANS, “My personal experience has not been like this till now, and I hope it will not be like this. Because in our country, we celebrate unity and diversity and I think that is the spirit that we should keep.”

The actress also reflected on the role of cinema in society, stressing the importance of responsible storytelling. She said, “I think movies are a mirror of society, they depict life. Of course, if there is no movie for kids, they should not be shown and that is why the certification is done. So I think we should keep it like that.”

The controversy surrounding AR Rahman began after his comments in a recent interview about his experiences in the Hindi film industry.

During an interaction with the BBC Asian Network, Rahman spoke about receiving limited work offers in Bollywood and suggested that over the past eight years, changing power dynamics and “communal” factors - referring to religion, regional identity and industry politics - may have influenced the opportunities coming his way.

Following the backlash over his comments, Rahman issued a clarification on social media. In a video message, he reaffirmed his respect for India, calling it his home and inspiration. He acknowledged that his words may have been misunderstood and clarified that his intention was never to hurt sentiments but to serve and uplift through his music.