After 'Nach Punjaban' and 'Boohey Bariyan', Bollywood steals Omer Nadeem’s ‘Aey Khuda’

Bollywood persistently engages in unabashedly cribbing the creations of Pakistani musicians. Devoid of any original inspiration, both emerging and seasoned Indian artists are shamelessly exploiting the creative genius of Pakistani vocalists.

As Bollywood captures headlines for its blockbuster hits, it equally garners attention for its recurrent copycat practices, causing international embarrassment.

Pakistani actress Armeena Rana Khan recently took to Instagram to expose renowned Indian singer Sonu Nigam for replicating Pakistani singer Omer Nadeem's song, 'Aey Khuda.'

In her Instagram story, she accused Sonu Nigam of stealing music without crediting the original artist, expressing disappointment in his actions.

“@sonunigamofficial steals music without creditng the artist. The original track is from my friend @omernadeem Shame on you Sonu,” Armeena noted.

In response to this blatant infringement of copyright, singer Omer Nadeem was also compelled to address the issue.

He shared a video comparing his original song with Sonu Nigam's pirated version on his Instagram account with caption, “I’ve reached a point in my life where I couldn’t care less about these things. But hey, if you’re going to do it, at least toss a little credit to the OG (original) track. If you’re gonna pull this off, could’ve at least done it with some finesse. Huge fan of Sonu Nigam, but let’s be real, this is light years away from the real deal.”

Armeena Rana Khan added her comment below the post and tagged Sonu Nigam, questioning, "@sonunigamofficial, why are stealing music?"

Instances of Bollywood being rightfully exposed for content bootlegging are not new. Earlier, the acclaimed singer and actor Hadiqa Kiani expressed shock over the Indian rendition of her popular 90s track "Boohey Barian." The song was blatantly copied by Indian artist Kanika Kapoor.

In response to the incident, Hadiqa voiced her frustration, stating, "Another day, and another shameless rendition of a song my mother wrote. No one asked for my permission, no one has given me royalties. They just take the song that my mother wrote and I recorded and use it as an easy money-making scheme."

Similarly, Abrar-ul-Haq's renowned track 'Nach Punjaban' faced unauthorised duplication by India's prominent music company T-Series. The company failed to credit Abrar for the use of his original song until he publicly called them out for their blatant violation.

There are numerous examples of Bollywood songs that are direct copies of Pakistani songs including, Munni Badnam Hui, Bajre Da Sitta, Ager Tum Mil Jaao, Hawa Hawa, Disco Deewane, Dil Dil Hindustan, Sayonee and others.