Media365
Saiyaara was hit by a minor controversy on the day the cast and crew were celebrating a year of its release. The YRF musical drama hit the big screens last summer and emerged as a massive sleeper hit. Not just the movie, its songs also emerged as chartbusters. One of the most played songs from the album was the title track, composed by Tanishk Bagchi.
On July 18, Tanishk Bagchi took to his Instagram account to share a detailed post noting that he is disappointed with the production house for withholding the amount he deserves from the royalties of the song. He alleged that the dues amount to nearly ₹8 Lakhs. A day after his post, YRF issued a statement denying his allegations.
In their official statement, YRF said, “Saiyaara title track was a beautiful collaboration between three composers (Tanishk Bagchi, along with Faheem Abdullah and Arslan Nizami). We are deeply thankful for their brilliance in creating a timeless song that has touched a million hearts. Royalties for the title track have been shared and will continue to be shared by YRF equally between all three composers as contractually agreed by all, including Tanishk. YRF has paid every collaborator their due, as per contract, all within mutually agreed terms & time.” Following this statement, Bagchi deleted his Instagram post.
Originally, the composer penned a long note and expressed that he felt “betrayed” over his remuneration for the Saiyaara title track. He wrote, “This was my first film with @yrfentertainment @yrfmusic I agreed to everything because I believed in the music. I gave this song everything I had. From the production to the composition, working with the lyricist and singers, recording, vocal tuning, sound, arrangements, every single detail mattered to me. I treated it like it was my own. Whatever YRF had paid me, all of that nominal amount was used to do the live and mixes ..what was left was zero, yes. That’s what I earned from a song so big (sic).”
Tanishk further shared, “What hurts the most is that, as per the royalty statement, I’m still yet to receive just ₹8 lakhs in royalties for a song that has gone on to do millions of streams and views across platforms. Honestly, for the amount of work, time and passion I put into this song, ₹8 lakhs feels like peanuts. I genuinely believed a song that reached this scale would have earned much more. I’m not writing this for sympathy. I’m writing this because I know what I put into this song, and I know the sacrifices I made to bring it to life. This experience has changed the way I look at this industry. From now on, I’ll only work with producers and directors who value creativity, honesty and the people who build their music.”
He added, “One thing I’ve also learned is that sometimes you give people your everything, and when success comes, they forget who stood by them. Anyway, I leave the rest to God. Time tells every story, and karma settles every account. The only person i respect in this whole film is @mohitsuri. Because of him i did this film ..and @irshadkamilofficial (sic).”
Tanishk is yet to publically react to YRF’s clarifcation.
