In a most unexpected turn of events Salman Khan and the producers of Bajrangi Bhaijaan have received a legal notice advising them to stop all public broadcasting of the traditional qawwali Bhar de jholi meri ya Muhammad.
The devotional track originally rendered by the Sabri Brothers of Pakistan in 1975, has been freshly re-recorded by Pritam Chakraborty for this film. Now, a gentleman named Abdul Samee Siddiqui from Mumbai claims he has acquired the rights to the original song and therefore it cannot be used in any form by anyone else.
In the legal notice (a copy of which is in our possession) sent to the film’s core team, that includes Salman and Kabir Khan, T-Series, Pritam among a few others, Siddiqui claims, “Our client entered into a letter Agreement dated 3rd January, 2007… with The Sabri Brothers, Pakistan, who were the original producers, author, composer and the intellectual property rights owners of the qawwali Bhar do jholi meri ya Muhammad…”
The notice continues to accuse the addresses of “blatant infringement of the sound track, musical work, literary work and copyrights related thereto which are owned by our client.” It also requests for a transfer of ownership in the copyrights of the song to Mr Siddiqui, provide him with revenues generated from the “exploitation” of the song in the film and “stop and desist” from exploiting it further.
The response of the recipients of the legal notice is awaited.
