Jul 18, 2026 3:32pm IST
Tanishk Bagchi Slams YRF Over ‘Saiyaara’ Fee: ‘I’m yet to receive just ₹8 lakhs in royalties’
The music of “Saiyaara” was one of its strongest selling points. On the film’s first anniversary, music director Tanishk Bagchi, who composed the title track, has slammed Yash Raj Films (YRF) for paying him a nominal remuneration for his work. He also claimed not to have received the royalties for the song, which crossed millions of views on music platforms.
Taking to Instagram, Bagchi tagged the production and musical banner of YRF and wrote, “I agreed to everything because I believed in the music. I gave this song everything I had. From the production to the composition, working with the lyricist and singers, recording, vocal tuning, sound, arrangements every single detail mattered to me. I treated it like it was my own (sic).”
The film, which was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2025, marked Aneet Padda and Ahaan Panday’s debut.
Related Stories
Bagchi revealed that he didn’t earn anything from the song, and added, “Whatever YRF had paid me all of that nominal amount was used to do the live and mixes... what was left was zero. Yes, that’s what I earned from a song so big. What hurts the most is that, as per the royalty statement, I’m still yet to receive just ₹8 lakhs in royalties for a song that has gone on to do millions of streams and views across platforms. Honestly, for the amount of work, time and passion I put into this song, ₹8 lakhs feels like peanuts. I genuinely believed a song that reached this scale would have earned much more. (sic)”
The popular composer shared that this incident has become a learning for him, but he still respects director Mohit Suri and lyricist Irshad Kamil. “I’m not writing this for sympathy. I’m writing this because I know what I put into this song, and I know the sacrifices I made to bring it to life. This experience has changed the way I look at this industry. From now on, I’ll only work with producers and directors who value creativity, honesty and the people who build their music. One thing I’ve also learned is that sometimes you give people your everything, and when success comes, they forget who stood by them. Anyway, I leave the rest to God. Time tells every story, and karma settles every account. The only person I respect in this whole film is @mohitsuri. Because of him I did this film.. and @irshadkamilofficial (sic),” concluded Bagchi.
Comments are moderated. They may be edited for clarity and reprinting in whole or in part in Variety publications.