Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has finally reacted to the controversy surrounding him singing Ishtehar song for Welcome To New York.
The popular singer took to Twitter and said that "music has no boundaries". "In midst of so much being said all I can say is music has no boundaries and thank everyone for showing so much love for the songs which I am a part of," he tweeted.
In midst of so much being said all I can say is music has no boundaries and thank everyone for showing so much love for the songs which I am a part of...... pic.twitter.com/ZjoZstjS1c
— Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (@RFAKWorld) February 20, 2018
The controversy had started after it was reported that Salman Khan had removed Arijit Singh's voice from Ishtehar, and took Rahat on board. People had soon started slamming Salman for replacing Arijit with a Pakistani singer.
Although it was later clarified that Arijit had never sung the song, the backlash continued as many believed it was unnecessary to take a Pakistani singer on board when Indian soldiers were being killed by Pakistani forces on the border.
Singer-turned-Union Minister Babul Supriyo had also reacted strongly to this and demanded a ban on Pakistani singers in India.
"I am not against any Pakistani artist. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Sahab is a very accomplished artist. But we believe that currently, given the kind of animosity between India and Pakistan with our soldiers being martyred, it is not appropriate for us to work with Pakistani artists and that is why I asked for the song to be banned," Hindustan Times quoted Supriyo as saying.
However, composer Shamir Tandon questioned why there was no protest or opposition when Pakistani singers lent their voices for films like Tiger Zinda Hai and Sultan.
"How come the same Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's 'Jag Ghumiya' which was used in the film 'Sultan', 'Mere rashke qamar' which was used in 'Baadshaho', skips this sentiment or for that matter, Atif Aslam's recently released 'Dil Diyan Gallan' in 'Tiger Zinda Hai' or the Ajay Devgn song 'Sanu ek pal chain' in the film 'Raid' released a couple days ago. Why were these songs not pulled up for using Pakistani voices, while mine has?" the report quoted Tandon arguing.
