Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; May 31, 2019)

Kapil Sharma’s show is in the news again. And this time around, it has nothing to do with the anchor of the show, but his guests. Last Sunday, lyricist Sameer Anjaan, who was on the show, went on to share how a song that he wrote: ‘Chaar baj gaye lekin party abhi baaki hai’, became the party anthem of the country. He also spoke of how he was inspired by his children when he first wrote this song for the film F.A.L.T.U in 2010. This, however, did not go down well with hip-hop singer and rapper Hard Kaur, who has sung the song. She posted on instagram, “Wah what a f****** lie ???? I would love to know how he wrote '4 baj gaye'. Please tell us the process. #noshame taking my credit & royalties is one thing. Sitting on national TV & talking shit with such pride is just next level low (sic).”

We spoke to Hard Kaur, who is currently in the UK, and she said, “It is rare to find a rapper who will sing songs penned by another person. Most rappers pen their lyrics and sing their own songs. I got an opportunity to sing two songs in F.A.L.T.U in 2010. At that point, music composer duo Sachin-Jigar asked me to write the song and sing it. They promised me to give another opportunity soon in the future and requested me to let go of the credit for it. In a few days, Sachin-Jigar visited me and offered me to use a line for the song. They said, ‘We are giving you one line Party abhi baaki hai… and the rest you pen on your own.’ I then penned the song and also sang it. Now, after nine years, when I heard Sameer taking credit for the song, talking about getting inspired by his children and how they asked him to write something new, I was shocked. How can he do that by just taking his children’s names? Has he ever gone out and checked out in discotheques what songs youngsters like to listen to? Has he ever picked up a CD and listened to rap numbers? And he is claiming that the full song is his on national TV?”

When we contacted Sameer Anjaan, he said, “The song is mine. I don’t want to argue on this anymore.”

Composers Sachin-Jigar react to Hard Kaur’s claim

Composer duo Sachin-Jigar, however, say that it was a collaborative effort. In an exclusive statement to BT, they said, “This happened nine years ago, when we had just started our journey in Bollywood. It was a privilege to work with a rapper like Hard Kaur, and we wanted to work with her on our future projects, too. She is exceptionally talented and when we were working on the song, all of us, including Sameer ji, would jam together. There were some lines that were contributed by all of us in the process and there is no denying the fact that Hard Kaur contributed to the song in a big way. We both believe that the song was a collaborative effort and the best lines were picked and that’s how the song was finally completed.”

Reacting to Sachin-Jigar's statement, Hard Kaur said, “Apart from one line, no one had given any input for the song. It is not really a team effort when I have written it alone.”