“They had obviously used it"
Gippy Grewal opened up about the controversy surrounding the use of his song ‘Nach Punjaban’ in Jugjugg Jeeyo.
The Punjabi singer revealed that Dharma Productions did not inform him before using his vocals, and only found out months later.
Gippy also spoke about the constant confusion around the song and the copyright issues that Dharma eventually faced.
Gippy was asked to sing ‘Nach Punjaban’, so he recorded it and sent it across.
“Nobody called me for three months. So I assumed that nobody liked my vocals and they didn’t use it.
“After seeing the poster for the film, I asked music composer Tanishk Bagchi if my vocals had been used, and Tanishk said ‘No, it was Dharma’s call’.”
Gippy accepted the apparent rejection and wished the film’s production luck.
He continued: “The next day, the trailer came out and I didn’t watch it because I thought that my song hadn’t featured in it, so I wasn’t interested.
“My brother called then and said, ‘You sang well, you didn’t tell me?’”
A confused Gippy then watched the trailer and realised the song was a prevalent part of the trailer.
It was so prevalent that he wondered how no one told him about it.
He messaged Tanishk, requesting them to not use his vocals.
“They had obviously used it, and they called me and tried to explain.
“Their entire promotion was based on the song, nobody said who sang it. I don’t know what competition they had.”
Gippy Grewal was later in the middle of controversy when Abrar-ul-Haq, who sang the original track, stated that he had not sold his track to Dharma Productions.
In a tweet, Abrar said:
“I have not sold my song ‘Nach Punjaban’ to any Indian movie and reserve the rights to go to court to claim damages.”
“Producers like @karanjohar should not use copy songs. This is my 6th song being copied which will not be allowed at all. @DharmaMovies @karanjohar.”
Speaking about the copyright issue, Gippy said:
“I was stuck. I realised this is Abrar’s song, and they’ve taken his rights and I’ve grown up listening to him, and I respect him a lot.
“And I had not signed any agreement, and I got a nice call from Azeemji in Dharma Productions so I signed, and I explained that it’s not about the money, and to please not do this.
“I don’t understand these things…”