Singer Sajjad Ali has opened up on the controversy surrounding the use of his song on an Indian television show, saying that it was aired without his consent and confirming that his legal team will contact the channel over the matter.
The issue surfaced after a video clip from India’s Voice of Punjab Master Champs Season 10 went viral, showing two young contestants performing Sajjad Ali’s “Ravi De Vich Pani.”
The clip led to multiple comparisons online, with many pointing out that Pakistan Idol contestants are barred from singing his songs while an Indian show has allowed two children to perform the same track.
Addressing the controversy, Sajjad Ali said, “I saw a reel from India where two kids were singing ‘Ravi.’ On this reel, people here started saying that the Pakistan Idol kids were not given permission to sing, but in India they were allowed to sing it.”
He rejected the idea that he had authorised the Indian show to use his work. “First of all, I never gave any Indian channel consent for my songs. They ran it without asking us. No permission was given, they did not seek permission, they simply ran it,” he stated.
He added that the matter would now proceed through official channels. “My legal team will contact them,” he affirmed.
Sajjad Ali also addressed the broader criticism he has faced over the past year for restricting the use of his songs on Pakistan Idol. He argued that international franchise shows operate with large budgets involving judges and organisers, yet expect artists to give up their work without compensation.
“An artist who has been self-financed his whole life, who composed his own songs and reached this point through his own investment… how can he not even receive royalty for it? This does not happen anywhere else in the world. How can it happen here?”
He said that the narrative around the dispute had been distorted to solely blame him. “This issue was given a particular spin, specifically that Sajjad Ali did not let the kids sing, that Sajjad Ali did not give the songs,” he said.
Sajjad Ali had previously addressed the Pakistan Idol dispute during a press conference in Canada, where he said that the show’s team had approached him to license his music but the two sides could not agree on financial terms.
He said that the limited pool of licensed songs available to contestants had reduced variety on the show, noting that organisers were unable to secure rights not just to his catalogue but to those of other artists as well.
He had also said that most contestants wanted to perform his songs, and that doing so would likely have boosted their chances in the competition.
Sajjad Ali noted that a large share of Pakistan Idol’s licensed music catalogue comes from EMI Records, the country’s oldest record label, which holds rights to works by major artists including Noor Jehan, Mehdi Hassan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Strings and Vital Signs.
