Re: atif aslam goes to bollywood/ Soundtrack of Zaher (Merged)
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Atif & JaL at each other again,
**By Amira Zaidi **
Vital Signs, Awaz, Aaroh, Noorie, Junoon and now Jal. What’s common between these bands is (NO, not their video director) but the plain fact that they’ve been successful and yes sadly, problematic. But never before has there been such an upheaval in the music industry as caused by the split-up of Jal. I know most of you are sick of hearing tirades from either side, what with a constant flow of “Atif did this” and “Goher said that” dominating the headlines and the airwaves. Was their debut Aadat too big for them to handle? Or was there really a solid ground for all this? The more details we unearth, the harder it becomes to figure out the truth. And although we all seem to have heard enough of this sordid saga to last us a lifetime, bear with me as I recount Atif’s recent stunt and then decide for yourself whether you’re going to side with him or with Goher or whether you’re going to go out and buy the latest Abrar CD in protest.
As if it wasn’t enough that Atif recorded his album in a record four days to throw it in the market before Jal came out with theirs, he’s now gone to India and recorded two songs for the Bhatt’s newly released film Zeher – A Love Story, starring Shamita Shetty and Udita Goswami. Now listen carefully, because this can get a little confusing…. Amongst the many disputed songs on the debut albums of both Jal and Atif, Jal claims ownership over Aadat, Dil Haray and Wo Lamhay, explaining the similarity in all three – the rhythms, the wording so simple yet so deep. The tussle here centers around Atif’s Bheegi Yadein which Jal maintains is a version of their Wo Lamhay. Atif, obviously, claims the opposite and his statement cannot be disregarded because the Jal number came out through a video the moment Atif released his album. Atif says that when he found out about the upcoming video, he was pushed to change the song and present it as Bheegi Yadein. With me uptil here? Told you it would get tricky!
Now for Zeher, composers Mithun and Naresh Sharma recreated Wo Lamhay (Jal’s version) into Wo Lamhay Wo Baatein, sung by Atif. The indianised version is being touted as the next big soft pop hit after Bheege Hont Tere, with potential to easily surpass the success of Murder’s groundbreaking melody. As for what’s happening back home, it’s certainly not pretty. Goher is up in arms and is going about telling anyone who cares to listen (I bet there aren’t many of those left anymore) that Atif is stealing his music again. “Everything was disputed already, why is he playing my music now? If he was confident about his song, then why did he sing our version?” He goes on to point the intricacies, “In our version, vocalist Farhan sings Kesa hai ye aalam and then comes the alaap. Atif copies that to a tee in the song for Zeher. The tempo is the same, the alaaps are the same. None of that is present in Bheegi Yaadein, so he can’t claim that he used his own song.” Goher yells, “Where’s the professionalism? Let’s be able to justify everything we do.” Hmmm… seems like you’re being heard Goher because recently, **a VJ from a popular music channel called you up to commiserate and said, “I’m really sorry, apka gana phir chori ho gaya hai.” **
According to Goher, a while ago, the Bhatts had approached Jal wanting to use this track in their next venture and then all of a sudden, out came the result but in Atif’s voice. Goher claims that the Bhatts had originally chosen the song after hearing Jal’s version of it. Atif, however, has a different story to tell
Atif exclaims, “How can he say that? Indian market pagal hai? Don’t they know who the main guy is? Don’t they know who has the copyrights?” Umm…. copyrights? The word does ring a bell but really, what’s that all about? Atif says that he’s undergoing a lengthy legal process for exclusive rights to the Jal trademark and although the songs and the band name clearly belong to him, once the formalities are over, the real situation will become clear to one and all. How it all started, according to him, is that the Bhatts heard the song’s raw live version, which was the slower, original version released on the internet before any of the albums came out in the market. Since it was his vocals that were being used, the Bhatts chose him to sing it for Zeher. Goher, however, maintains that there was no raw version on the internet at that time.
What about the accusations that the alaaps are the same as in Wo Lamhay? Atif explains, “the first alaap is the same that I’ve done throughout my album. The rest are, yes, the same that Farhan does. Just like he sang my Aadat, I sang his alaaps. Are they doing justice to me?”
Phew … and that would call for this piece to sign off right here. I’ll leave the dirty work to you guys – decide who’s right and who’s not.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/sunday/default.aspx?c=Controversy.htm