Dua Lipa surprised everyone when she performed in Mumbai recently by paying a nod to the viral Levitating x Woh Ladki Jo mashup, originally made by DJ Ruchir Kulkarni. Even as the videos went viral on social media, Shah Rukh Khan fans couldn’t keep calm. But singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya seemed to veer between wanting to be credited for the work and not caring when he spoke to News18. 

Abhijeet Bhattacharya on Dua Lipa’s performance

Abhijeet argued that Dua should’ve credited the team behind the song during her performance, calling the song from the 1999 film Baadshah composer Anu Malik’s ‘finest’. He said, “It is his life’s greatest song. Dua Lipa should’ve said it (given credit). She also creates songs. Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar and I created this song.”

The singer then argued that while he ‘doesn’t care’ who Dua is, the song was ‘popular before’ her performance. “To be very frank, I don’t care who is Dua Lipa. She can take my name or not but when she performed it on stage, I was flooded with all the calls. People heard it. She cannot even name anyone; pronunciation would be wrong. What difference does it make? On the contrary, it made the song even more popular. It was popular before and it is popular even today.”

Abhijeet’s son weighs in

Abhijeet’s son Jay Bhattacharya also wrote a lengthy note on his Instagram after Dua’s performance went viral, criticising the Dance the Night singer for not crediting his father and Anu. But Abhijeet told the publication that he ‘does not care’ if he gets credit as long as ‘people are listening to the song’. He also defended his son, stating that there was no ‘intention’ behind it, other than his son wanting him to get credit.

A portion of Jay’s note on his Instagram read, “Unfortunately we live in a country where not one news outlet or Instagram page has mentioned the voice and the artists of this song. Why has it always been about actors in this country? I'm sure when @dualipa heard this song she must have heard it and not seen it and not appreciated the man that has sung this song and yes it is not SRK.”

Nonetheless, Abhijeet posted his own version of Dua’s performance on his Instagram, featuring visuals from her performance and of him performing the song live at one of his concerts.

Read Also: Abhishek Bachchan's advice to married men goes viral amid his divorce rumours with Aishwarya Rai: 'Do as your wife says'

HOW DID YOU LIKE THIS ARTICLE? CHOOSE YOUR EMOTICON !