Pakistani actress Mehwish Hayat took to social media to say one song in the music video is similar to a popular tune in her country. Hayat said the Punjabi song "Prada" in Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt’s music video bears some resemblance to the song "Gore Rang Ka Zamana", sung by the Pakistani band Vital Signs, IANS news agency reported.
I find this strange. On the one hand Bollywood vilifies Pakistan at every opportunity they get. On the other, they continue to steal our songs without so much as an acknowledgment. “Copyright violation” and “royalty payments” obviously mean nothing.https://t.co/2x48WIGjf3
— Mehwish Hayat TI (@MehwishHayat) August 24, 2019
The actress has been critical of Bollywood for its alleged "hypocrisy" of vilifying Pakistan at every given opportunity, yet stealing Pakistani songs without hesitation.
A section of netizens in Pakistan came out in support of the actress and the music band.
— Anjum chand (@Anjumchand1) August 24, 2019
— Jay (@JayyArshad) August 24, 2019
— Saddaqat (@Saddaqa42285562) August 24, 2019
Netizens in India reacted to Mehwish Hayat’s plagiarism charge, with some saying that Pakistan should be grateful that its songs were being popularised by Bollywood.
— 🇮🇳the_sniper🇮🇳 (@varun_kumbhar) August 24, 2019
— Vishesh D विशेष (@Vishybhai) August 24, 2019
— Double Negative (@nurav_defined) August 28, 2019
Hayat signed off by saying that Bollywood has the right to be patriotic, but not at Pakistan’s expense.
Hayat’s comments are not surprising, given Pakistan’s decision earlier this month to ban all cultural exchanges with India following the latter’s move to change the territorial status of the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir by revoking Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution.
