“Was paid only 15,000 for ‘Kajra Re’; have had enough of Bollywood”: Alisha Chinai

The recent statement by singer Alisha Chinai was an explosive one! We wonder if this is going to give birth to a serious debate.

Alisha Chinai has given us many songs to keep humming on. You might remember keeping “Made in India” on loop in your playlist. “Kajra Re” from ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ became one of the biggest hits of that year. However, everything is not as full of joy as it shows.

“Several singers in our country have been whining that we should take a collective call and demand royalty, which is how it works in Hollywood. But after these meetings, all go back to the grind, However, I have decided that enough is enough and I want Indians also to share my sentiments. Imagine Julia Roberts lip-syncing to Madonna. Will that happen? Or Tom Cruise to Jai Ho? No Na?”- Alisha said, to a leading media house.

Alisha at the same time added that she was paid only an amount of 15,000 bucks for her super hit song “Kajra Re”, whereas YRF was earning Royalty money each time she performed the song somewhere abroad.

“Real artists are languishing. Solo albums don’t sell anymore. Lataji gets her royalties for playback singing, AR Rehman had always retained his music copyrights! So why do Indian producers refuse to pay other singers? Do you know that some singers are even singing for free in Hindi films?”- she further added.

For free, seriously? That was too much for us to bear! This crisis, for the sake of artists, needs to be addressed soon.

Ranjini Maitra

Journalist. Writer. Reader. Enthu cutlet. Mood-swing machine. Day dreamer. Sandwiched between ‘live life fully’ and ‘lose some weight’. Mantra of life: Love and love more.