Shah Rukh Khan was called ‘hakla’ behind his back by rival stars, claims singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya

Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya was recently in the limelight after he reacted to a fan-made mashup of Dua Lipa’s song Levitating and actor Shah Rukh Khan‘s famous track Woh Ladki Jo from his film Baadshah. He said that the song belonged to the singer first, so he must be named, not the actor. Now, in a podcast conversation on Subhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel, the singer opened up about his decades-long working relationship with Shah Rukh, and whether they have patched up after all. (Also read: Abhijeet Bhattacharya salty about ‘Dua Lipa x SRK’ track going viral? Amplifies posts about not getting credit)

What Abhijeet said

During the conversation, Abhijeet shared how he was disappointed with a slew of songs in the 90s and even declined to sing a number of tracks because he did not like the composition. “I had become choosy, and I became a little too mindful on this and decided that I will not sing for anyone else but Shah Rukh. That became a problem, because many of his contemporaries called him ‘hakla’ (stammerer). So what happened was, there was an award ceremony in Dubai where I had won an award for Tumhe Jo Maine Dekha.”

‘Hakle ke liye gaa raha hai na tu?’

He added, “When I was getting down from the stage, there was one star who came forward and said, ‘Aye! hakle ke liye gaa raha hai na tu (You are singing for that stammerer)?’ Two people said this together. I was shocked! I was like why are they feeling jealous, I got the award for my singing. After that experience, I kept losing interest in the playback singing and started focusing on my shows and concerts. Even today, I am very happy doing that.”

Abhijeet has delivered several hit songs for Shah Rukh films, some of which are Tumne Jo Maine Dekha from Main Hoon Na, Tauba Tumhare Ishare from Chalte Chalte, Chaand Taare from Yes Boss, and Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Mein from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayege.