Pritam Responds To Plagiarism Allegations On Cocktail Song Mashooqa: 'My Unpaid PR Team...'

Pritam composed the new song Mashooqa from Cocktail 2, which went viral for all the wrong reasons. Many users claimed that the song's melody, which featured Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon, was taken from the 1993 Italian song Se So Arrubate A Nonna. Some even resurrected earlier accusations of copying and made fun of music composer Pritam. The composer has now reacted to these allegations and called out some for drawing 'imaginary similarities'.

Pritam On Mashooqa Song Plagiarism Allegations

Pritam responded to these accusations on social media and voiced his disapproval of them. "Every single one of my song releases comes with a set of self-appointed music detectives, who have created a new genre called ‘imaginary similarities’. Same people, same 'inspired by' thesis.. Boss, at this point, you are my unpaid PR team.. I just want to say guys, NOT NICE.. (sic)," he wrote on Instagram stories.

ALSO READ - Shahid Kapoor-Kriti Sanon's Cocktail 2 Song Mashooqa Copied From 1993 Italian Tune? Internet Think So

Pritam composed the song Mashooqa for Cocktail 2, while Amitabh Bhattacharya wrote the lyrics. Raghav Chaitanya and Mahmood Ruaa Kayy have provided the voices, while Mahmood wrote and performed the Italian portions. In the music video, Kriti and Shahid's characters travel to several locations together and develop romantic feelings for one another.

ALSO READ - Cocktail 2 New Song Mashooqa Out: Shahid Kapoor And Kriti Sanon Win Hearts With Sizzling Chemistry

Mashooqa Song Copied From Italian Song?

The plagiarism debate began when a Reddit member shared videos of the song and the original 1993 song, highlighting the similarities between the two. Soon after, a lot of people on social media began saying that the music was nearly the same.

Nonetheless, a few also stood up for Pritam, pointing out that the song might have been influenced by the original Italian tune. A user wrote, "This is called sampling, not stealing/copying. It’s when you take the main beat of a song and layer other instruments over it with changed lyrics. It’s a very popular concept in the music industry. Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Kanye and many more artists also sample songs."

About Cocktail 2

Cocktail 2, directed by Homi Adajania, is a spiritual follow-up to the 2012 hit film Cocktail, starring Diana Penty, Deepika Padukone, and Saif Ali Khan. On June 19, the film is scheduled to open in theatres.