Ankit Tiwari on controversies around his song Piya More: I am a musician, not a thief

Music composer Ankit Tiwari says that filmmakers have asked him to lift tunes from other songs; however, all this is legal if they buy the rights of the original song.

Music director and singer Ankit Tiwari, who shot to fame with chartbusters such as Tu hai Ke Nahi (Roy; 2015) and Sunn Raha Hai Na (Aashiqui 2; 2013) and has composed the music for the upcoming film Aiyaary, was mired in a controversy not too long ago.

Musician Ankit Tiwari has composed the music for the film Aiyaary, which releases on February 16.

His song, Piya More, in Baadshaho (2017) was in focus and he was accused of lifting it from a song in the 2014 film, Nasha Sar Pe Chadke Bole. Dismissing the allegations, Ankit reasons, “Every music composer has his or her own distinct style. If I listen to any song by — say Mithoon or AR Rahman — I’ll instantly know it’s been composed by them. Aur agar koi uthke yeh ungli uthaye ki yeh mera gaana hai, (If some one claims that it’s his song) then that’s bulls**t!”

Ankit feels that the accusers had no work because he himself had done the music of the said film. “They say that I’ve stolen the song. Why would I steal my own song? ‘Copy’ aur ‘similar’ hona alag hai. Two of my songs, Boond Boond (Roy; 2015) and Qatra Qatra (Alone) are similar, too,” he says. The composer has also been criticised for lifting the hook tune for Dil Cheez Tujhe De Di in Airlift (2016). He says, “For Dil Cheez... people wanted me to credit DJ Khaled. I was told to do that by the makers. But, I still made changes in the notes. This is a legal thing. I’m a musician, not a thief.”