"I didn't give 'Purani Jeans' to be used in the Visa commercial!"
– Ali Haider reacts to the usage of his popular tune in an Indian ad
Ali Haider is really irked these days. The reason: the use of his super hit tune 'Purani Jeans' for the Indian Visa advertisement, where the tune plays in the background. As it turns out, Ali never sold the rights to his song. He wasn't even aware until after the ad was aired.
"I found out afterwards and this isn't right. Neither did I give the song nor did I get compensated for it. I have hired a lawyer and I'm going to India very soon, as soon as my visa pulls through."
According to Ali, the company maintains that they got the rights to the song through HMV India through whom Ali Haider had released his song in the early nineties.
"First of all, they never asked me. Secondly, I don't remember signing a contract with HMV India back in 1994-1995 which allowed them to give my song for an ad more than a decade later. I have told Visa that I want to see the paperwork. If I had in fact signed off on it back in the day, then I was wrong. But I don't think that contract ever had such a clause. If Mastercard doesn't prove the paperwork, I am going to sue them and take legal action against them," stated Ali Haider while speaking with Instep Today.
Considering the fact that Visa Mastercard is a globally known name, this does come as a shock. But these things do happen. A few months ago, Rakesh Roshan had used a part of a tune that was made for a Sony Ericcson advertisement. And he lost the battle in court after the composer sued him. He had to play damages in the amount of 2 crore rupees. It seems Ali is in for a similar battle. And from the looks of it, Ali Haider isn't going to back off and rightly so. We just hope he will be heftily compensated too!
link:
The News International - No. 1 English Newspaper from Pakistan - Saturday, December 30, 1899