Amaal Mallik Targets Fellow Composer in Dispute Over Royalties and Song Credits
Mumbai–Music composer Amaal Mallik launched a sharply worded social media attack Thursday against an unnamed industry colleague widely understood to be Tanishk Bagchi, accusing him of copying songs, taking credit from other musicians and behaving inconsistently in disputes over royalties.
Mallik did not directly name Bagchi in the lengthy post on X but referred to the person as “Mr Remix & Destroyer of Originals” and included several details pointing to the composer.
“Ten years too late, but I will show the world your place,” Mallik wrote, accusing the composer of using old photographs of the two in publicity articles while continuing to privately portray himself as a friend.
Mallik also alleged that the title song from the film “Saiyaara” had been taken from work by musicians Faheem Abdullah and Arsalan Nizami. He claimed the original creators could release another song, “Saiyaan Mere,” to demonstrate similarities, although he provided no evidence supporting the allegation.
“If I speak up about how you bagged the film ‘Saiyaara,’ and stole the song right under Faheem Abdullah and Arsalan Nizami’s nose to make Mohit Suri take you in the film, then you will know,” Mallik wrote.
Mallik went on to make more serious, unverified allegations involving the treatment of female singers. He suggested that women in the industry had grievances against the composer but had not publicly raised them through the Me Too movement.
He also criticized the composer for objecting to royalty arrangements after previously participating in remakes of songs including “Aashiq Banaya Aapne” and “Masakali.”
Mallik claimed he had previously urged composers to remain united on royalty issues and had warned against remaking well-known songs solely for commercial gain.
The composer also accused the unnamed colleague of copying melodies from Pakistani songs, folk music, other composers and covers posted online. He alleged that “Saiyaara” contained similarities to “Humnawa Mere” and speculated that singer Jubin Nautiyal and composer Rocky Khanna had remained silent because of their professional relationships with those involved.
Those claims have not been independently verified, and the artists named in Mallik’s post had not publicly supported the allegations.
Mallik further accused the composer of selectively criticizing Yash Raj Films while avoiding a public dispute with T-Series Chairman and Managing Director Bhushan Kumar because of the company’s influence in the music industry.
He claimed the composer had privately complained that T-Series owed him money but was reluctant to publicly confront the label out of concern that it could affect future work.
Mallik concluded by warning the composer not to target him and criticized the broader state of the film music industry, saying remakes and copied compositions had undermined original work.
Bagchi had not publicly responded to Mallik’s allegations at the time of publication. (Source: IANS)
