Things do not appear to be going well for Sadak 2. After becoming the most disliked trailer on YouTube with more than 8 million dislikes, the makers of the film have come under fire for stealing a Pakistani song and not giving the artist his due credit.
The matter came to light when Pakistani artist Shezan Saleem a.k.a JO-G, who is also the son of veteran musician and singer Saleem Javaid, uploaded a video in which he compares a song of the film Ishq Kamaal with a composition of his Rabba Ho released in 2011.
“A trailer for a Bollywood movie called Sadak 2 has just been released, and there is a song in it called Ishq Kamaal,” says Saleem in the video. “After listening to it, I realised that it sounds like a composition I had produced for a friend around 11 years ago. The friend’s name is Zaid Khan. I think they’ve copied it because not only the melody but the music is also very similar.”
Saleem then played both the songs and asked his followers to share their opinion on the matter. He later added that he will not stay quiet on the matter.
Social media users hit out at the makers of the film, and the Bhatts in particular, for stealing the song.
However, Saleem defended Mahesh and called him a “fine man”. He lamented that the music producers should be asked about this plagiarism.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Pooja Bhatt, who is one of the leads in the film, had previously said that Sadak 2 will introduce fresh music talent.
She had credited the song to a ‘music teacher from Chandigarh’, who had come to their office with “no prior appointment, a dream, a harmonium and a brilliant song called Ishq Kamaal.
Meanwhile, the composer of the song Suniljeet has denied the accusations and said that the song is his original composition.
“Ishq Kamaal is my original composition and doesn’t share a resemblance to any other song,” said Suniljeet. “Everybody involved in making this song including singer Javed Ali has added his magic to the music. This is my debut as a music director and all I hope for is that people like the song when it comes out. Shalu Vaish and I have worked with all our heart to live up to the expectation of Sadak 2 music.”
However, Saleem did not buy his arguments.
Sadak 2 is a sequel of Mahesh Bhatt’s 1991 film Sadak and marks his return to direction after almost two decades. It was scheduled to release in theatres this summer, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will release digitally on Disney+ Hotstar on August 28.
