AR Rahman is releasing a song called Asha Forever on September 8, timed to Asha Bhosle's birth anniversary, and the story behind it is stranger than the usual tribute-track rollout.

According to Filmfare, which cites sources close to the project, the track was originally conceived as something much bigger. Rahman had wanted to gather the biggest names in the industry in Asha Bhosle's presence, a live celebration of the relationships she'd built across decades of playback singing. That version of the plan collapsed after her passing. Rahman, per these sources, didn't want the idea to die with the moment. So the team turned to AI.

Here's the part that'll generate the most chatter. Filmfare reports the technology was used, with consent, specifically to recreate elements of a celebration that had already been designed while she was alive, not to fabricate something new after the fact. That's a distinction Rahman's team is clearly keen to draw a hard line around.

"This was originally planned as a celebration for Asha Ji, with Rahman Saab wanting to bring the whole industry together in her presence," a source close to the project told Filmfare. "It was meant to be a very special celebration of her life, her music and the relationships she shared with so many people. After her passing, he was very keen that the idea should still live on. That is when the possibility of using AI came into the picture. The technology has been used with consent and purely because what was originally planned can no longer happen in reality."

What actually lands on September 8

The song is expected to fold in several names from the entertainment world who shared a close bond with Asha Bhosle, though Filmfare's report doesn't spell out who beyond that. What we do know is the intent, framed by Rahman's team as continuity rather than novelty. A celebration that couldn't happen in a hall is arriving instead as a recording, with technology standing in for the people and moments that couldn't be brought together.

Worth flagging, separately, that Filmfare also references what it calls Asha Bhosle's last feature film song, also releasing around the same date. The two aren't described as the same track, and CutMirchi hasn't seen independent confirmation tying the two releases together beyond the shared anniversary timing.

The use of AI to "complete" an artist's unfinished creative intentions is not new terrain globally, but this is a fairly high-profile domestic test case, coming from someone with Rahman's stature and attached to a singer as beloved as Asha Bhosle. How the finished song is received, and whether the AI element feels like tribute or trick, will likely shape how this conversation plays out the next time somebody tries it.

Asha Forever streams from September 8.