O MERI JAAN CONTROVERSY

By Kunal M Shah
Posted On Monday, September 21, 2009 at 02:56:57 AM



A GRAB MUSIC VIDEO

Music director Pritam Chakraborty, Mahesh Bhatt and the entire unit of Tum Mile were in for a rude shock when they realised that the film’s unreleased song O Meri jaan sung by Kay Kay is already being marketed as Pakistani singer-music director Nouman Javaid’s song on all prominent music websites. The song also has a music video featuring Nouman. Another shocker was that instead of Pritam getting credit, it was Nouman Javaid who had taken all the credit by speaking at length about ‘his’ song in several interviews.

The story goes that Mahesh Bhatt, who is often known to bring talent from Pakistan, had discovered Nouman who had sung a couple of tracks in Bhatt's film Jashn. While working on the O meri jaan song, Mahesh suggested that Nouman could be a strong contender to sing the song. The music was sent to Nouman to see if he fits the bill. However, the Bhatts did not find his voice appropriate and recorded the song with singer Kay Kay.

All was okay till a couple of days ago when they heard that just four weeks before the release of the film, the song was doing the rounds on the net. To their shock, they saw the music video on several sites. Mahesh Bhatt immediately called Nouman to give him a piece of his mind and asked him to clearly admit publicly that it is not his song.

Mahesh said, “This is unfortunate for Pritam who had given us an exceptional track for Tum Mile. Nouman has put me in an uncomfortable spot due to his reckless behavior. I would like to say that the music of Tum Mile is 100 per cent Pritam’s.”

“I have always gone out of my way and taken brickbats from people who do not believe in bringing talent from Pakistan. Nouman was exceptional in Jashn and is very talented. But he has disappointed me by jumping the gun too soon. Presenting a video on the net and claiming that it's yours is not fair. He apologised and said that someone else had made a video and put it online. But when I saw his interviews, I knew that he was not telling me the truth. He assured me that he would go on record to say that the song is not his. I believe he is doing that on his Facebook account.”





Nouman Javaid said, “It is a situation which just got out of hand. I want to say on record that the O meri jaan song from Tum Mile is not mine. I have neither sung it nor have I given the music. My relations with Vishesh Films and Pritam are very important to me and I respect them as they are like my family. I had just done the cover version, which is now on the net, for a friend. I have never taken credit for it. It was a fun thing which got leaked on the net and I regret that. Kay Kay is a fantastic singer and I also spoke with Bhatt saab. I repeat that it is not my song.”