Arijit Singh (L) and Salman Khan (R).
PTI photos
Mumbai: Arijit Singh's shock decision to step away from playback singing has brought renewed focus on his now-past feud with superstar Salman Khan, which began when the musician was still finding his footing in Hindi cinema and reportedly led to the actor dropping the singer’s songs from his films.
It was a controversy that dominated headlines for years and is now being revisited by many fans of the singer, who has sung the patriotic number "Maatrubhumi" for Khan's new film "Battle of Galwan".
The relationship between the rising singer and the well-established superstar first drew public attention following an on-stage exchange at an awards ceremony in 2014, which later snowballed into what was perceived as a professional fallout.
Singh, who started his playback singer career with the "Murder 2" track "Phir Mohabbat", rose to overnight fame with "Tum Hi Ho" from the 2013 musical blockbuster "Aashiqui 2", followed by equally popular tracks like "Mast Magan", "Muskurane", "Humdard" and "Aaj Phir".
During an awards function that year, Khan, who was hosting the event, invited Singh on stage to receive the best playback singer (male) award for "Tum Hi Ho".
Singh went on stage, dressed casually in a shirt and flip-flops, to receive the award and looked visibly tired.
“So gaye the?” (Did you fall asleep?), Khan asked the newcomer to which Singh replied, “Aap logon ne sula diya” (You people bored me to sleep).
The exchange reportedly did not sit well with Salman, and what followed was years of reported coldness from the superstar.
The singer's songs were allegedly removed from Khan's three movies -- "Kick (2014), "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" (2015), and "Sultan" (2016).
For "Sultan", Singh had crooned the track "Jag Ghoomeya" but it was replaced by a version that was sung by Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
Afterwards, Singh shared — and later deleted — a post on social media, where he apologised to Khan.
"This is the last way I thought I would speak to you. I have been trying to text you call you and do everything possible to tell you that you are mistaken about the fact that I insulted you. I never did. That night in the show it was the wrong time and wrong aura. Nevertheless you felt insulted.
"And I understood and I felt extremely sorry about it as me and my family have been your fan since long. I tried to explain so many times but you never got it. I apologized but you never got it. How many times I sent you apology texts you also know," he wrote.
He requested Khan to not remove the song from "Sultan".
"You want anyone else to sing this song. absolutely fine but keep a version at least," he wrote.
Signs of a thaw in their relationship became evident in 2023 when he reunited with Khan for Manish Sharma’s spy thriller "Tiger 3" produced by Aditya Chopra’s Yash Raj Films.
Singh lent his voice to the romantic track "Ruaan" and the end-credits dance number "Leke Prabhu Ka Naam", both of which were prominently promoted by the actor.
Khan had thoroughly maintained a silence on the feud but finally addressed it during an episode of "Bigg Boss 19" last year.
“Arijit aur main bahut acche dost hai. Jo misunderstanding thi, meri side se thi. Uske baad usne gaane bhi kiye mere liye. Tiger me kiya tha, ab Galwan me kar raha hai. (Arijit and I are very good friends. The misunderstanding that happened was on my side. After that, he even sang songs for me. He sang in 'Tiger', and now he’s singing in 'Galwan')," Khan said on the show.