00:00Hi guys, I just want to come on here to discuss this controversy regarding the song.
00:06First of all, I'm in the middle of grieving a loss of one of my closest friends.
00:11And I'm also in the middle of nowhere with no network, so I haven't been able to see what's going
00:15on.
00:16But I've gotten some updates today because I got a little bit of network, so I do want to clarify
00:21a couple of things.
00:21I'm going to make sure this is not a very long video, but hear me out, okay?
00:24One, I shot this song three years ago in a language called Kannada, okay?
00:31Which is a part of a different industry called Sandalwood, okay?
00:36And when I shot this song three years ago, I said yes to it because it was a part of
00:42a big film.
00:43It was with a big icon, Sanjay Dutt, who would say no to work with him? He's such an icon.
00:47And it was a remake, at least that's what I thought, of like Nehi Kalna Eku Meh, which is also
00:55a very iconic song.
00:56When I'm on set shooting for this song, I'm relying on the filmmakers to translate the song.
01:03And that is what I go by, okay?
01:05When they're translating the song, nothing seemed inappropriate or vulgar when they were translating the song to me.
01:13But then again, I don't understand Kannada, so I'm just relying with whatever they're telling me.
01:16Whatever they've done right now, which is creating a Hindi version and dubbing the voice in Hindi and having those
01:25lyrics, which are very inappropriate, I had no idea about that.
01:29They didn't take any approvals, they didn't take any permission from me.
01:31When I was invited for the launch at the event, I sat there and I saw the Kannada version, which
01:38first of all, I had a major issue with because they didn't take any approvals from me when they created
01:43that lyrical version.
01:44They used very unflattering photos, and if anyone knows me, they know that I have to approve all my photos.
01:49They put this lyrical version without my approval and they put it out there.
01:53Then they created an image of me and Sanjay Dutt, which was AI generated, which I'm already against AI.
02:00So I was already feeling really irritated at the event when I saw what I saw.
02:04I have to be respectful regardless.
02:07I'm in the presence of media.
02:08I'm in the presence of filmmakers, people who give me opportunities.
02:11So I have to carry myself in a certain way.
02:13However, internally, I was really conflicted with what I was seeing.
02:17Then they played the Hindi version.
02:19Now, when they played the Hindi version, I knew it was a wrap.
02:22I knew we were going to have issues because at least I understand Hindi.
02:25I told the director, this is not going to be okay.
02:29This is going to get a lot of backlash.
02:31I disassociated myself with the project.
02:32As you can see, I didn't promote it at all.
02:35I again flagged it to the director.
02:37And I said, my image and reputation is on the line.
02:41Here's the thing.
02:42As artists, especially artists like me who, you know, one, we don't really have this backing.
02:48We're not Nepo kids.
02:49We don't come with a certain power behind us.
02:52It's just us.
02:53We're just individuals and the audience which is behind us.
02:57We have little power.
02:59We have little control.
03:00Thankfully, I've been lucky in Bollywood to work with a lot of people who have respected my opinion, who have
03:08respected my creative call on certain things and who listen to me.
03:14I've been very lucky.
03:15However, there are certain places, you know, certain industries, they don't listen.
03:20They don't care about my opinion.
03:22And that's a conversation I think we can have on another day.
03:26Because of this backlash, it pushed them to remove these songs.
03:30And I'm grateful for that.
03:32Also, just a side note to the media and to the pages that are consistently talking about this situation.
03:38If it bothers you guys so much, then you need to hold the filmmakers and the people who create such
03:43content accountable.
03:45You start using their name and images when such controversies arise.
03:50You start bombarding their name and images to the audience because then only will they have some sort of fear
03:57and they will feel some sort of accountability and some sort of responsibility when they create content.
04:04If you're only going to bombard the audience with just the artist's name and image, it's counterproductive because we don't
04:11have control of such scenarios.
04:12If you guys really, really, really want to find a solution, then you need to start holding the filmmakers and
04:17the people behind the content accountable.
04:20On that note, I will be more careful and I will be more strict moving forward.
04:25And yeah, I just want to say thank you for the backlash.
04:28Because of that, they've been able to take it down.
04:31So thank you.
