Singer and politician Abrar-ul-Haq called out Bollywood producer Karan Johar and his production firm Dharma for stealing his song “Nach Punjaban” without giving him due credit or payment. On twitter, the singer pointed out that he did not give the producer permission to use his song, and will be suing him in court, since this is the sixth time his songs have been used by Bollywood producers with out his permission.
I have not sold my song “ Nach Punjaban” to any Indian movie and reserve the rights to go to court to claim damages. Producers like @karanjohar should not use copy songs. This is my 6th song being copied which will not be allowed at all.@DharmaMovies @karanjohar
— Abrar Ul Haq (@AbrarUlHaqPK) May 22, 2022
“I have not sold my song ‘Nach Punjaban’ to any Indian movie and reserve the rights to go to court to claim damages. Producers like Karan Johar should not copy songs. This is my 6th song being copies which will not be allowed at all.”
Pakistani celebrities have previously criticized Bollywood for stealing their songs for films without proper permission or payment to the original singers. Hadiqa Kiani had criticized Kanika Kapoor for doing a cover of her song “Bohee Bariyan” without giving her credit or asking her for permission to use her song. In her Instagram stories, Kiani had cited this as proof of how Pakistani music is consistently stolen without giving credit or payment to the original owners.
“Another day and another shameless rendition of the song my mother wrote. No one has asked for my permission, no one has given me royalties, they just take the song my mother wrote and I recorded and use it as an easy money making scheme…Almost every time I have covered a song, I have bought rights to the song, asked permission of the artist or paid royalties to the artist because it is the ethical way to do things.”
