The highly anticipated Bollywood movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that’s about to make its debut in theaters on October 28, 2016 has been mired in controversy ever since Fawad Khan was asked to leave India, and then all Pakistani talent was banned from working in India, altogether.
Everyone in Pakistan was looking forward to see Fawad Khan alongside some of the biggest Bollywood stars
However, this open letter to Fawad put a really bad taste in everyone’s mouths.
Things just went downhill from there between India and Pakistan, even though Karan Johar initially spoke up in support of Fawad Khan, and other Pakistanis working in India.
However, recently, he too has bowed down to pressure and sworn not to “engage with Pakistani talent, given the circumstances”.
So as a final goodbye, we were watching this insanely beautiful trailer of Ae Dil Hai Muskhil
Can’t argue with how gorgeous Aishwarya Rai looks. And those steamy scenes between her and Ranbir Kapoor? Woof!
Anyway, before I get too distracted by Aishwarya… as we were watching the trailer, we noticed something interesting.
The 1:11 minute mark in the trailer features a song by Noor Jehan playing in the background, as Aishwarya, and then Anushka Sharma, say the famous verse from Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s ghazal.
Upon realizing that it was a Pakistani song, we reached out to the producers of the original song, the Lahore based Evernew Pictures, checking if they were involved with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.
The CEO of Evernew, Mr. Sajjad Gul, said they didn’t know the song was used in the movie until they heard it in the trailer, for the first time. He said, Evernew owns the rights to the song and that no one involved with the Bollywood movie had ever reached out to them asking for their permission to use the song in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.
We also reached out to the producers of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Dharma Productions, but didn’t receive a response till the time of publication.
The song, as not many of you, may remember, was featured in the Pakistani movie Qaidi, which was released in 1962 and starred Shamim Ara.
Here’s a look at the song, for those who may not know about it.
While pretty skeptical about the situation, we’ll let you choose for yourself:
Do you think Ae Dil Hai Mushkil stole the song from the Pakistani producers?
Cover image: Dharma Productions Via: India Today