Last week, singer Omer Nadeem took to Instagram and called out Sonu Nigam and company for blatantly plagiarizing his song Aye Khuda for their song Sun Zara. The Instagram post gained a lot of traction, with many coming to show support for Nadeem and tagging Nigam to hold him accountable.
The most recent development in this story, however, is that Sonu Nigam ended up responding to Omer Nadeem’s accusations under the latter’s post. Since then, Nadeem has shared this exchange on Instagram in a new post.
Sonu Nigam’s Response
Nigam started his comments by absolving himself of plagiarizing and said, “Just so you all know, I have nothing to do with this. I requested to do the song by KRK who’s my neighbour in Dubai.”
He also added, “If I had heard Omer’s version, I would have never sung it.”
Sonu apologized and even went as far as saying that Nadeem sang it better than he did. That’s high praise coming from an icon like him.
Nigam’s response also makes it seem like he agreed to do the song merely out of courteousness and as a favour for his neighbour Kamaal R. Khan, who is notorious for his YouTube reviews and causing controversies. Khan appears in the music video and is also credited for the lyrics, lyrics which were stolen from Nadeem’s Aye Khuda.
Omer also took a dig at him without outright naming the man, clearly acknowledging KRK as the main culprit behind the plagiarism. The two singers, however, had nothing but praise and admiration for each other’s work during the entire exchange.
This whole controversy gave us this heartwarming conversation. However, comments under Nadeem’s post are still not satisfied, demanding legal action or for Nadeem to be financially compensated for his work. But it seems that Omer is content with Nigam’s apology.
Nonetheless, it’s refreshing to see Sonu Nigam being a class act, acknowledging Nadeem’s original work, and apologizing for the plagiarism. We can only hope that going forward, our artists get the credit they deserve if and when their work is used in any Indian media. Online backlash shouldn’t always be needed for our artists to get the recognition they deserve.
