Arijit Singh apologised because Salman Khan is terrifying

Will Arijit Singh’s Bollywood career be over if Salman Khan gets angry with him? If so, does the idea hint at a broader trend that should upset all film-lovers?

This week playback sensation Arijit did something that most found bizarre, and many felt was shocking. He shot off an elaborate apology on Facebook to Salman Khan.

The trouble is no one quite clearly understood why Arijit was saying sorry.

Also read: Awkward! Singer Arijit Singh and Salman Khan's tiff

Apparently, it has to do with something that happened in 2014. Salman had then mimicked Arijit’s singing style at an event in his presence, on which the singer grinned and said, "nice!" The implication, thereafter, was Bollywood’s superstar Bhai might have taken Arijit’s reaction as sarcasm and thus he turned angry. Notably, the young singer has never sung for the aging superstar.

Why is Arijit apologising now?

It seems he recorded his first-ever number for Salman in the upcoming Sultan, and the superstar wants the song removed from the film’s album.

Arijit subsequently deleted his apology post from Facebook, but the gist of his motive seemed hidden in these lines: "Please do not remove the song that I sang for you in Sultan... I have sung enough songs, sir. But I want to retire with at least one song of you keeping in my library. Please do not take away this feeling. I don’t know why am I doing this I know the consequences (sic)."

The young singer clearly seems scared. Perhaps he feels a rejection by Salman could spell the death knell for his overall singing career in Bollywood.

This, though, is not how things are meant to be. Star playback singers should not grovel before superstars to retain a song (one would think that was prerogative of the film’s music composer, anyway).

Can you imagine Kishore Kumar or Mohammad Rafi saying sorry to any of the leading men of their days over silly non-issues? Or closer in time, Sonu Nigam or Kumar Sanu begging top actors not to remove their songs from the album of a film?

Okay, Arijit hasn’t yet scaled the stature of most of the names above. It goes without saying, though, he is Bollywood’s numero uno voice of the hour.

Arijit’s teeming fan base retorted sharply soon after his apology, with plenty of digs at Salman on social media.

The incident, though, throws light on a sad trend. Singers in Bollywood are losing the esteem they deserve.

If Bollywood has traditionally banked on songs for its hits in a major way, singers and composers should be considered a big deal in the industry. They should not depend on superstar whims to sustain their careers.

Salman’s alleged wrath has fallen on at least two major musical stars in Bollywood lately and both have, quite coincidentally, seen their careers slow down after their tiff with Bollywood’s Bhai.

Arijit might have just exchanged a note or two with Sonu Nigam and Himesh Reshammiya before his apology post on Facebook. Maybe, Salman is allergic to singers becoming too successful.

And since it’s Bhai ka raaj right now, most in B-Town would be in the mood to agree with him, too. Arijit sure has reasons to be jittery.