Venus Records & Tapes and Nikhil Advani enter into a tiff over Bappi Lahiri song

Producer-director Nikhil Advani must have thought he had pulled off a coup of sorts when he got the rights of the old Bappi Lahiri Kishore Kumar-S Janaki duet Tu mera tota main teri maina from the 1989 film Paap Ki Duniya, for his animation film Delhi Safari. The song fitted into Advani’s film like a hand in glove since it was filmed on a parrot in the film about ecological imbalance and animal welfare. The parrot incidentally speaks in the voice of Akshaye Khanna and in fact Advani intended to record the song Tu mera tota in Khanna’s voice. However, Venus Records & Tapes who hold the original copyrights for the song have thrown a spanner in Advani’s plans by demanding separate financial reimbursement for using the song in the film and in the promotions. A source close to Advani informs, “Nikhil paid Venus Rs 4 lakhs for the song. He used it in the film. But when he wanted to use it in the promotions, Venus asked Nikhil to cough up another Rs 4 lakhs.” Apparently a whole lot of charges and counter-charges were exchanged between the producer and the music company. Finally the song Tu mera tota main teri maina won’t be used in the trailers and promotional clippings for Delhi Safari. Says a source close to Nikhil Advani, “Rather than give in to the arm-twisting Advani decided to not use the song beyond the film. But the whole experience has left a bad taste in Nikhil’s mouth. Delhi Safari is a film with a message. So many well-known personalities have agreed to support the project free of cost. Even Akshaye Khanna, Urmila Matondkar, Govinda, Suniel Shetty and Ayesha Takia dubbed for the animals free of cost. Nikhil feels the music company could have shown more grace in supporting the ecological message of the film rather than demanding a double reimbursement for a song.”