Sonu Nigam took potshots at music companies and Pakistani singers in his recent interview. He commented that, he would have got more chances in India, had he been born in Pakistan.
Sonu Nigam, who entered bollywood as playback singer in mid-90s, became one of the most popular singers of the country. He succeeded as playback singer, live performer, host and actor. He sang in Hindi, Kannada, English, Bengali, Manipuri, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Tulu, Assamese, Odia, Nepali, Maithili and various Indian languages.
In his recent interview, he took a dig at the offers coming for Pakistani singers. He commented, “Sometimes, I feel like it would be better if I was from Pakistan. At least I would get offers from India,” he said. He added, “Nowadays, singers have to pay music companies for shows. If we don’t shell the money, they will play songs sung by other singers and highlight them. Then, they will take money from them”. He also told that, this treatment is only meted out to Indian singers. He added, “They don’t do the same with Pakistani singers. But then why single only Indian singers out? Atif Aslam is a very close friend of mine. He is never asked to pay to sing at shows, neither is Rahat Fateh Ali Khan,” he said.
Sonu’s jibes at music companies and Pakistan singers came as surprise. Of course, there has been criticism on music companies on several aspects like this, it is surprising to see veteran singer like Sonu Nigam also has to face this.
