Sandip Ssingh, producer of the forthcoming biopic on prime minister Narendra Modi, has issued a statement clarifying the use of the names of top lyricists Javed Akhtar and Sameer in the trailer for the film, PM Narendra Modi.
“T-series being the official music partner of our film, we have taken the songs ‘Ishwar Allah’ from the film 1947: Earth (1999) and ‘Suno Gaur Se Duniya Walon’ from the film Dus (1997) and thus we have given due credit to the respective lyricists Javed Saheb and Sameerji,” Ssingh said in a statement.
Javed Akhtar and Sameer had earlier denied having written any songs for the film.
While ‘Ishwar Allah’ from 1947: Earth (1999) was composed by AR Rahman, ‘Suno Gaur Se’ from the unreleased Dus (1997) was composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The composers have not been credited on the trailer, however.
The music rights of both songs rest with the T-Series label. T-Series has used several old chartbusters for remakes and remixes earlier as well. These include ‘Poster Lagwa Do’ from Luka Chuppi (2019), ‘Bumro’ from the upcoming Notebook (2019) and ‘Aankh Maarey’ from Simmba (2018).
However, this is a rare ocassion when the trailer for the film has carried credits for the original lyricists.
The first original song from PM Narendra Modi, ‘Saugandh Mujhe Iss Mitti Ki’, was released on Saturday. Written by Prasoon Joshi, the song has been sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Shashi Suman.
PM Narendra Modi is set for release on 5 April.