Badshah reacts to the ‘Masakali’ controversy, dismisses plagiarism and objectification accusations against his reprised version of ‘Genda Phool’, featuring Jacqueline Fernandez
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 11, 2020)

With 148 million views in just two weeks, Badshah’s latest music video, “Genda Phool”, featuring Jacqueline Fernandez, is already on top of the charts. Speaking from his home in Chandigarh, the singer-composer gushes about Kolkata and the Bengali culture. “I had a look in mind for Jacqueline, which she had never tried before,” he points out, the satisfaction apparent in his voice.

Point out that some detractors found the actress “too sensuous without reason” and he counters it, “There are more sensuous music videos online. And with Jacqueline, we would want it to be sensuous.” The rapper goes on to say that young girls are recreating Jackie’s look. “TikTok numbers have already crossed 500 million. People are celebrating it,” he adds proudly.

But what about the lyrics, which tread the thin line between praise and objectification? The singer-composer argues that even a metaphorical line like ‘Yeh Chand Sa Roshan Chehra’ can be seen as objectification, as “moon itself is an object”. “I’m not saying I’m a poet, but comparison is a tool to make your language ornamental and that’s why I use similes and metaphors,” Badshah reasons, unfazed by the criticism. “Earlier, when there was no social media, feedback was delayed. Now, everyone has an opinion. As an artiste, I respect that but I don’t have to heed everything,” he asserts.

Immediately after the release of “Genda Phool”, the musician was accused of not giving credit to original lyricist Ratan Kahar for the Bengali lines, “Bodo Loker Beti Lo”, used in the song. Badshah reveals that the song had been with him since the last five years as a dotara sample. When he decided to use it, both the music label and he exercised due diligence during research. “If it was a case of plagiarism, we would be facing the consequences by now. The original song has been recreated several times in the past, even in Bengali films, and Ratan ji has never been credited. It’s sad because royalties are an artiste’s only source of income. I want to share the royalty of this song with him,” informs the singer-composer who, moved after a phone call with the folk artiste, has wired him Rs 5 lakh and, with the music company, plans to educate and encourage folk artistes to register their work. “In the whole confusion we discovered Ratanji’s talent. Once the lockdown ends, I’ll meet him and record a song with him,” he promises.

Talking of credit, after Tanishk Bagchi’s reprised version of “Masakali” released—the music video features Bollywood actors Sidharth Malhotra and Tara Sutaria—the original’s composer A R Rahman appealed to the audience to listen to his song from Delhi-6 since it was made with “no short cuts, properly commissioned, sleepless nights, writes and rewrites by over 200 musicians over 365 days of creative brainstorming with the aim to produce music that can last generations”. The film’s director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, added, “Beware of the remix, it will damage your eardrums.”

As someone who has been on both ends of the spectrum—reprising songs and having his songs reworked—Badshah says it all boils down to audience reaction. “Comparisons are inevitable. I loved the ‘Aankh Marey’ remix more than the original. My 2015 song, ‘Wakhra Swag’, was recently remixed for a film without my knowledge. It worked but I’m still asked to play my version wherever I go,” he chuckles, pointing out that he worked on the only remake A R Rahman agreed to. “We were at an event and he called me from the other end of the room, to say that he really liked my remixed version of ‘Humma Humma’.” Now, that was a compliment.

He is now working on Badshah 2.0. The idea is to reinvent his songs and take Indian music to the global platform.