Trouble has come knocking before the team of Mirzapur: The Movie can celebrate its strong opening at the box office.

Rajasthan-based folk artiste Rapperiya Baalam is preparing to send a legal notice to Excel Entertainment over the use of his song Shoorveer, which he claimed has been used without his permission or credit in the Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, and Divyenndu-led crime drama.

According to Baalam, Shoorveer appears to have reached Gurmmeet Singh’s directorial feature through the distributor and the broader rights chain. “They have used the song through the distributor, the distribution rights and registrar, and True Music/Virtual Planet. But permission is [a crucial] thing. Nobody came to ask me. My voice and song have been used, and there is no credit. We already emailed Excel, we’ll send a legal notice as well,” he told mid-day.

The artiste’s larger concern is the manner in which Shoorveer — created originally by him along with Rajneesh Jaipuri and Honey Trouper — has been used on Divyenndu’s character Munna in Mirzapur: The Movie. “Shoorveer is a song about Maharana Pratap Singh’s valour, history, and the emotions attached to that legacy. Now you are using it in a situation involving Munna Bhaiyya. I have a major problem with that. To see it get used like this hurts me and I want it taken down from the film,” he asserted.

Baalam, who learnt about the song’s inclusion only when the film released on September 4, underlined that financial settlement is not what he is seeking. “I want my song out of the movie. I am not sitting here saying, ‘Give me money and everything is fine.’ This is not a money issue.”

mid-day reached out to Excel Entertainment, which remained unavailable for comment.