Amaal Mallik Hits Back at Film and Music Industry Over Criticism of ‘Yeh Awarapan’
Mumbai — Music composer Amaal Mallik has hit back at what he described as negative publicity surrounding his song “Yeh Awarapan” from the recently released Emraan Hashmi-starrer “Awarapan 2,” while criticizing what he called unhealthy practices in the film and music industries.
Mallik took to Instagram on Wednesday to defend the song and said he was not competing with others in the industry.
“I’m not in any kind of race with you all. I’ve never needed marketing budgets to manufacture my identity. People know my music because they have lived their lives through it,” he wrote.
Defending his work, Mallik said his songs were deeply personal to him.
“My songs are my babies, and trust me when I say I’m a dangerous dad,” he wrote, adding that “Yeh Awarapan” was created with complete conviction and had received an emotional response from his father.
Mallik urged others in the industry to focus on creating original work and building their own legacy instead of comparing themselves with him.
“You can’t touch what I’ve built, keep at it and you’ll waste your entire life,” he wrote.
He also emphasized the importance of artistic conviction over commercial metrics, saying that “art will always come before the algorithm.”
Mallik said the song had been criticized for incorporating elements associated with music from the original “Awarapan,” released in 2007. He argued that the first film’s later emergence as a cult favorite demonstrated how emotional resonance and belief in a project can outweigh its initial commercial performance.
“People can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that a super flop film, a 2007 original became a cult 20 years later,” he wrote.
Mallik also criticized practices such as corporate bookings and paid digital engagement, comparing them with buying clicks and views to create an inflated perception of success.
He ended the post by thanking listeners for both the praise and criticism surrounding the song.
“Thank you for all the love and the hate that couldn’t do shit to my legacy or my baby #YehAwarapan,” Mallik wrote. (Source: IANS)
