Abhijeet Bhattacharya on credit war: Shah Rukh and I are two tigers who are not bothered by all this

Shah Rukh Khan in the Badshah song; (right) Dua Lipa at the Mumbai concert

Dua Lipa's fans in India were in for a surprise when the singer-songwriter performed a mash-up of Levitating and Badshah (1999) track, Woh ladki jo sabse alag hai, at her November 30 concert in Mumbai. But what began as Lipa's nod to Bollywood quickly turned into a war of credits. In an Instagram post, Jay Bhattacharya criticised how it was being projected as a Shah Rukh Khan number with no credit to his singer-father Abhijeet Bhattacharya, who lent his voice to the track. Khan's fan clubs countered his argument, stating that it was the actor's stardom that made Lipa perform to it.

When mid-day reached out to Abhijeet, the man at the center of the controversy, he unequivocally stated that singers are the backbone of songs. "When we hear Lag jaa gale, whom do we recall - the actress [Sadhana] or the singer, Lata Mangeshkar? Chingari koi bhadke is remembered as a Kishore Kumar song, not a Rajesh Khanna one.

Abhijeet Bhattacharya

Nobody remembers the hero. Why did Dua Lipa choose Woh ladki jo among bigger hits of Shah Rukh? Because this was a mash-up that Ruchir Kulkarni had created in 2022, and I had sung it. The song became so viral that I got calls from the US," asserted the singer.

Abhijeet said he was flooded with calls from people who attended the concert on Saturday. "They all told me, ‘Dada, it's your song'. It's the power of the song and the creators behind it - Anu Malik [composer], Javed Akhtar [lyricist] and sung by me," he emphasised. Does he think singers are invisibilised in India? It could be true of some, but not him, he said. "Dua Lipa doesn't know that the hero, lyricist and playback singers are different in India as she sings and composes herself. If today some singers are invisible, it is because the media doesn't cover all of them. But I'm not in their position. If I announce my shows today, all the front row seats are a sell-out on the first day. If I get 100 offers, I refuse 80."

As Jay's post sparked off a credit war, Abhijeet was unfazed by the episode. He said, "Jay's post was not about getting recognition, but about giving credit and Dua didn't know to whom she had to give credit. She didn't say anything. The netizens and media have created the controversy. I didn't feel hurt or disappointed that I didn't get credit. SRK, Dua or I don't want credit for it. Shah Rukh and I are two tigers who are not bothered by all this. The war is going on between the two fan groups. That's because today, some people are more focused on stars. If Dua Lipa has fans, I have millions of fans too who are fighting for my credit. Obviously, Shah Rukh's followers are a million times more than mine."