The first song from Ananya Panday and Ishaan Khatter's Khaali Peeli landed in troubled waters. The song titled Beyonce Sharma Jayegi faced backlash for the racist undertone of the line tujhe dekh ke goriya, Beyonce sharma jayegi. Amid the controversy, the makers of the action-thriller changed the spelling of Beyonce to Beyonse to avoid legal troubles.
According to a leading daily's recent report, the production house, apparently, had not sought Beyonce's permission before using her trademarked name in the song. In order to avoid any further complications ahead of Khaali Peeli's release, the makers, reportedly, had planned to rewrite the song. However, not the song but the title has been changed to Beyonse Sharma Jayegi.
Addressing the controversy, director Maqbool Khan issued a statement saying, "First, without any hesitation or excuses we want to apologize to anyone offended. We assure you that the lyric in question was never intended racially. In fact, the term "goriya" has been so often and traditionally used in Indian songs to address a girl, that it didn't occur to any of us to interpret it in a literal manner. Also, the comparison with Beyonce is simply meant to be a street-smart guy flattering a girl who is trying to impress that her dancing/performance is worth comparing to even Beyonce who we all see as the final word, the epitome of talent, beauty, performance, style and attitude. We are all huge fans, and there was never any question of disrespect."
Beyonse Sharma Jayegi is written by Kumaar and Raj Shekhar. The song is sung by Nakash Aziz and Neeti Mohan while Vishal-Shekhar have composed it. Khaali Peeli, featuring Ananya and Ishaan with Jaideep Ahlawat, is directed by Maqbool Khan and produced by Ali Abbas Zafar. The film will release on ZEEPlex on October 2, 2020.
(Source: YouTube)
