How Bollywood copied an iconic Pakistani song and made it their own

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRqQ7EbpkKU/

KARACHI: It’s been around five years since the Indo-Pak tensions escalated which in turn resulted in India putting a ban on anything Pakistani. Bollywood especially took a very hardline stance by banning our actors and our movies completely. However, the recent item number ‘Zaalima’ highlighted the hypocrisy of the Indian movie industry in light of their ban especially when they showed no qualms in using the iconic Pakistani song ‘Zaalima Coca Cola Pila De‘ and turning it into an item number.

The song in question is from the movie Bhuj The Pride Of India which will see Ajay Devgan in the lead role. The movie is set in the 70s in Gujrat and is ironically about the Indo-Pak war. The remake of the iconic song, which has been dubbed as “the party song of the year,” has been sung by popular singer Shreya Ghoshal and it sees Nora Fatehi busting out her belly dancing skills.

However, despite the fame the remake is getting, what Bollywood failed to acknowledge is the fact the original ‘Zaalima Coca Cola Pila De’ song was sung by none other than the legendary Pakistani singer Noor Jehan back in 1986 for the movie Chan Tay Surma.

While the song was a commercial success back in its day, it gained popularity in more recent times when Meesha Shafi and Umair Jaswal covered it for Coke Studio 2017.

‘Karachi is love’ receives mixed reactions

Soon enough social media went into a frenzy and were quick to point out the hypocrisy of the Indian media industry for using a Pakistani catchphrase in their song.

Some were appalled with how terrible they thought the new remake was:

It seemed that it wasn’t just Pakistanis who disliked the new version:

All in all, it’s clear the Indian remake of ‘Zaalima Coca Cola Pila De’ won’t sit well with a lot of people: