Ashutosh Gowariker, one of Bollywood’s hottest directors, shot to fame with his Oscar-nominated Lagaan in 2001. A.R. Rahman’s music contributed largely to the success of the film and both Ashutosh and A.R. Rahman have been working together ever since.

Their next project, Swades, though well received by critics did not find acceptance among the masses. But one aspect of the film that was appreciated by one and all was it’s music, with Rahman’s ‘Yeh Jo Des…’ going on to become one of his best compositions till date.

Ashutosh’s latest venture, Jodhaa Akbar, featuring Hrithik Roshan as the Mughal emperor Akbar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as his love interest Jodha, a Rajput princess, also has Rahman composing the music. This period film is now in its final stages of post-production and Ashutosh who is busy editing it has done the unexpected by axing two songs composed by Rahman, one of which is a Qawwali that was shot in a lavish set erected for the purpose.

The director, however, justified it as the song hampered the flow of the film. Further, he explained that Rahman was a mature composer and would understand the reason behind it. We had also earlier reported Aishwarya liking the Qawwali so much that she has asked the director and Rahman for the footage and composition so she could use it in another film of hers.