Sonu Nigam slams Bhushan Kumar in a video, Divya Khosla hits back

Sonu Nigam has alleged Bhushan Kumar of maligning his name for speaking out against favouritism in the music industry, resulting in a sharp rejoinder from the music mogul’s wife Divya Khosla Kumar who called the singer "thankless".

With Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely death on June 14, Bollywood is grappling with criticism surrounding its nepotistic culture and now Nigam has criticised music labels for crushing talented singers.

Nigam posted a video on Facebook on June 18, claiming that there are "bigger mafias" in the industry who call the shots regarding which artiste should work on a song. In the video, he had claimed that the music industry is controlled by two companies, without taking any names.

The 46-year-old singer had also said that if this culture continues, people would hear about suicides from the music industry as well.

On Monday, Nigam again uploaded a video and said that even though he didn't take any names, Kumar of T-Series sent out "press releases" in the media quoting six singers to counter the singer's views that the industry doesn't run on favouritism.

"Bhushan Kumar, now I'll have to take your name. You've messed with the wrong person. You have forgotten the time when you used to come to my house and plead: 'brother, please do 'Deewana' album for me, introduce me to Smita Thackeray, Bal Thackeray, save me from Abu Salem," Nigam said in the video.

He claimed that Kumar would come to him asking for help when Salem, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case convict, threatened him.

"Do you remember asking me to save you from Abu Salem when he was abusing you? I'm warning you to not engage with me at all," the singer said.

On Tuesday, Kumar's director-actor wife Divya Khosla took to her Instagram story to dismiss Nigam's claims, saying it was all about "who can run a good campaign" in the current climate.

"I'm even seeing people being able to sell lies and deceits with their strong campaigns. #SonuNigam such kind of people know how to play with the minds of the audience. God save our world!"

In another post, Khosla called Nigam "thankless" for forgetting everything T-Series had done to back him up.

"T-Series gave you break in the industry, pushed you ahead. If you had this much problem with Bhushan, then why didn't you speak up earlier?

"Why are you doing this for publicity today? I have directed so many videos of your father, for which he was always so thankful. But some people are thankless," she added.