One of the most popular Indiepop artists of the 90s, the lead singer of popular band Euphoria, Palash Sen became a target of many for his post appreciating the popular Pakistani Singer Atif Aslam.
The singer took to his social media and shared an old picture of him with Atif and wrote –
“According to me, the one singer – musician who has made the maximum impact on Bollywood ‘s music and most singers over the last 15 years , is this man. The awesome @atifaslam. I say this with a lot of humility. He has style , panache and that nasal twang that most singers in Bollywood tried to imitate. And his music is still copied by some leading music directors .. the Minor chord Kings!! This pic is 10 years old , when both of us collaborated for our concert in Abu Dhabi. And both Indians and Pakistanis sang along and danced together. Music Unites!!.”
For his post, Palash faced a lot of criticism on social media for appreciating an artist from across the border, and for the unversed Pakistani artists are currently banned to work in India due to weak or broken bilateral ties between the two nations.
One user said, “He should have made more impact in his own country. We have far more better singers than him.”
While another one commented, “This is Bollywood for you in the name of art they always support Pakistan.”
But after seeing the reaction from social media users, Palash clarified his stance, and was quoted telling the following in an interview with Hindustan Times:
“Usually, I don’t get trolled because I’ve always been below the radar. I am a small player in the larger scheme of things, especially because I don’t belong to Bollywood. I am a self-funded independent artiste, not backed by anyone, but the people of India. I don’t think people really understood the essence of my post, because it had layers. I was hinting at many more things than endorsing Atif.”
He also said, “My question was very basic: Do we really lack talent that there was so much influence from one musician on Bollywood? I think Atif did make a big impact, hence Bollywood forgot our own talent and everyone started following his way of singing/ making music.”
Palash is an artist who has always been away from the showbiz and limelight of Bollywood and has given us timeless tracks like, Maeri, Aana Meri gully and Dhoom.