Kala Chashma singer Amar Arshi says song going viral hasn't given him any money: 'I knew little about royalty back then'

The song Kala Chashma has gone viral in the last few weeks but its singer Amar Arshi says that the popularity hasn't given him any monetary gain.

Kala Chashma, the Punjabi pop song, has found a new lease of life in 2022. Over the last few months, the song has gone viral across the world with everyone from Jimmy Fallon and Demi Lovato to the Indian cricket team making videos on it. But this virality hasn’t helped the song’s singer Amar Arshi, who says that he hasn’t ‘made any monetary gains’ from the song.

Kala Chashma, a remix version of which was picturised on Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif in Baar Baar Dekho, was originally sung by Amar Arshi.

Kala Chashma was sung by Amar Arshi and composed by Prem Hardeep and Kam Dhillon. The song was originally released in 1991. It was then recreated by Badshah and Neha Kakkar for the 2016 film Baar Baar Dekho, where it was picturised on Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif. Earlier this year, Norwegian dance group Quick Style made the remix version go viral, with millions across the world making videos on Tik Tok and Instagram Reels, set to this song.

Speaking to Mint about the song’s new found popularity, Amar said, “My son had been telling me it was all over the internet but I didn’t pay heed until two weeks ago when I started getting calls from some friends in the US, England, and Canada.”

However, the singer added that he hasn’t gained monetarily from the song going viral now. “I don’t think most of these people making dance videos to this song know that I sang it. For all the raula (buzz) this song has generated in recent weeks, I haven’t made any monetary gains from it. I can’t understand contracts written in English. I knew little about royalty as a concept back then. Further, I didn’t think the song will become this big,” he said, adding that even his compensation for re-recording vocals for the remix barely touched six figures.

Amar is a Lonndon-based Punjabi singer. Kala Chashma was part of his debut album. In the three decades since, he has released three further studio albums including popular songs such as Aaja Ni Aaja and Rangli Kothi.