Amitabh Bachchan ticks off

Clash of the titans

Amitabh Bachchan ticks off Bhushan Kumar of T-Series for using popular Bollywood tunes as bhajans

Ram Kamal Mukherjee

Amitabh Bachchan is upset about the fact that T-Series and a few other audio companies have been lifting popular film tunes and using them as bhajans. This has been a popular practice for many music companies in India for the last 25 years.

Amitabh Bachchan, usually known for weighing his words very carefully before talking, made his displeasure clear to Bhushan Kumar during the music launch of Ravi Chopra's Baabul last week. Apparently, Bachchan told Bhushan not to lift the tunes of Baabul and use them as bhajans in the future.

"Amitji is very particular about certain things in life. He doesn't think highly about those who shamelessly lift tunes from popular Bollywood tracks and use it as bhajans. He wanted to make it very clear that he is offended with what has been happening for over the years in Bollywood," says our source who was present at the venue. Our source adds that Bachchan was put forth his opinion very politely, though firmly.

When contacted, Bhushan Kumar said, "Amitji has sung and composed songs for Baabul, so, yes, he told jokingly told me that was hoping I will not use these tracks as bhajans later on!"

Now that Amitabh has brought up this valid issue, will Bhushan refrain from taking tunes from popular Bollywood tracks? "Not at all! We shall continue using Bollywood tunes. It has been a practice for the last 25 years now. And why just point fingers at us? There are several other music companies who are using tunes from Hindi tracks in bhajans. We are using the popular tracks from our films because we have the copyright and we pick the tunes only six months after the release of the film. I don't see any harm in using such tunes," replied Bhushan.