I don’t need to copy from anyone, not my style to get into a Twitter battle, says Salim
Singer-composer Salim Merchant, along with brother and musical partner, Sulaiman, has given many memorable and original hits tracks such as Aashayein (Iqbal; 2005) and Chak De India (Chak De! India; 2007). However, on being slammed by a Pakistani singer for copying his song, Salim said he doesn’t need to copy from anyone, nor will he engage in a Twitter battle.
Haareya, the final part of Salim-Sulaiman’s musical trilogy Lost In Love, came under fire last month. It was Farhan Saeed, former member of Pakistani band Jal, who called it a “total copy” of his 2014 song Roiyaan. However, Salim called the similarities “mere coincidence”. Farhan went on to point out that both the songs were penned by the same lyricist, Kumar.
Did Salim follow up with Kumar? “I didn’t need to follow up. My body of work proves that I don’t need to copy. I was very gracious on Twitter when Farhan said this. Yes, I agree that the song sounds similar but I don’t need to prove myself. I didn’t intentionally copy it. It’s my bad luck that both the songs sound similar. Had I heard the song before, I would have changed my song,” Salim shares.
Released last month, Haareya might be a new song for music listeners, but Salim claims that it was created a long time ago.
“I had the song with me since 2012. When we were composing for the movie Ungli (2014), we had composed Haareya first, but that song was very sad. Karan Johar (producer) wanted a positive song. So, we composed Auliya,” recalled Salim.
“Auliya was released in Armaan Malik’s voice and Haareya remained on the computer. The melody was ready, the lyrics were ready. That time the song was written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Later, when I called up Kumar, he liked it a lot and developed it,” added the composer, who has given music for movies such as Article 15 and Student of the Year 2 .
He has no hard feelings for Kumar though. “I don’t blame him because he had written [Farhan’s] song in 2014 and my song happened at the end of 2018. It’s fine,” said Salim, adding, “Farhan, on the other hand... I don’t even know him or his music. I don’t need to get into this whole Twitter battle with anybody. It’s not my style.”