inger Neha Bhasin (ex-Viva) has filed a cheating case against music director Anand Raaj Anand over the song ‘Ek look ek look...’ (which is in three versions - normal, dhol and remix) in the film Aryan. Though the singer’s voice is heard in all the three versions,the inlay credits her only with ‘Backing Vocals’ and mentions Poonam Khubani, the film’s producer, as the artiste.
In a press release, Neha has revealed the following details: The first recording was on November 17, 2004 at Tune Studio, the second on March 22, 2005 at Wings Studio and the third on April 15 at Nirvana Studio.
Neha has made out a case of cheating, fraud and unethical modus operandi besides misrepresentation of facts. No payment has been made to her, claims the singer, who also states that she has not sung backing vocals but the main melody in all the versions. The singer insists on due credit on the inlays and in the film’s credit titles.
The singer states in a press release that after the song was ‘approved by the producer’, she was called urgently on March 22 by Anand Raaj Anand, who asked her to re-record the song with fresh lyrics. Then on April 5 Neha was called to re-record two lines of the same song for the final mix. The music director personally told Neha Bhasin that the mix was the final one.
In July 2005, when her secretary Manish called, the music director stated that he was being pressurized to make the producer’s sister sing the song. After a few weeks Anand called Manish and told him that he was feeling bad for Neha but expressed inability to retain her voice except in support as backing vocals (with credit), which Neha categorically refused to accept. A joint credit was justified and asked for, said Neha.
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When Screen contacted Anand Raaj Anand, he had a different story to tell. “Some new singers want overnight success, but Neha has made the mistake of trying to make a scapegoat out of me, a music director who not only has been controversy-free but also gave her an audition. I have sent a reply to her legal representative.”
The music director’s version is as follows: “Neha appoached me through her secretary for a break. I was working on the music of Aryan and gave her a chance to record ‘Ranjhe kol Heer hai...’ which I had to send to Poonam Khubani overseas. The song’s lyrics were then changed in keeping with current trends to ‘Ek look ek look...’ six months later. The problem arose because of today’s concept of sound-design where layered recordings are made. The engineer who did the final mixing unfortunately kept the 3 layers of Neha’s voice along with 3 layers of Poonam’s, who had dubbed it in London earlier. The matter could have been sorted out amicably, but Neha chose to resort to such tactics through her secretary and legal advisors.”
The music director adds, “Neha has hurt me. What remuneration is she talking about? Auditions are expensive propositions for everyone concerned. Besides, there has always been a written contract that producer Poonam will be recording the song. It is Poonam who should have been upset for the inclusion of Neha’s voice on the track, but she chose to be graceful about it. We have now deleted Neha’s voice completely in the new issues of the album and have removed even her ‘Backing vocals’ credit from the inlays.”