New Delhi: Was singer Atif Aslam a subject of envy among Pakistani artists because of his Bollywood success?
Goher Mumtaz, the lead guitarist of Pakistani pop rock band Jal, of which Aslam was a member, stirred drama with his recent interview. Mumtaz publicly took a jibe at Farhan Saeed, the musician-actor who replaced Aslam as the band’s vocalist in 2003, saying he wanted to follow Aslam’s path and join Bollywood.
During his interview with YouTube channel Freebird Music Entertainment, Mumtaz took a swipe at Saeed went for leaving the band in 2011, claiming that he wanted to make it big in Bollywood like Aslam who went to the Hindi film industry “at the right time”. Mumtaz said he worked hard on Saeed during his time with Jal as he had an “average voice”, describing his departure as “hurtful”. He claimed that he advised Saeed to stick to the band as that was the “best platform” for him.
“I used to tell him [Saeed] that he’s Atif Aslam. He got songs at the right moment… I told him that for him, the best platform was Jal. I had worked hard on him, to make an average voice better,” said Mumtaz.
He said that he invested four years “polishing him” since people often compared him to Aslam, saying that Saeed did not have a similar voice. Highlighting Saeed’s lack of confidence, Mumtaz said that he even created new songs for him.
“People weren’t seeing him as a vocalist,” said Mumtaz, adding that the band’s second album, Sajni, provided Saeed the break in the industry he needed.
Soon after the interview went viral, Saeed posted a video of clips from several concerts. The Instagram post was captioned: “My Average Life ! I love you all”.
In response, Mumtaz, who wasn’t tagged by Farhan, went all out in his attack, writing that Saeed was hired in Jal to sing ‘Aadat’ as a replacement.
“At that time you were not confident, out of tune to sing ‘Aadat’…nothing more than that.” He then accused Farhan of uploading the video “to show off”, before proceeding to target him one more time: “But somebody should tell you before posting this videoon [sic] your page that you are still out of tune in these clips,” he said.
From band brothers to sworn enemies
Jal was formed in 2002 after Mumtaz composed his first song ‘Aadat’. As he continued looking for a suitable voice for his song, he heard Aslam singing in a music competition in a college and immediately offered him to join the band. Soon Aslam became the voice that took Pakistan by storm. Aslam’s voice travelled far and wide, and the song made it to two Bollywood films, Kalyug and Chocolate. In 2003, however, Aslam left the band and Saeed’s version of the song was launched.
As the controversy over Mumtaz’s interview unfolded, the internet was filled with reactions. Some called Mumtaz “petty”, while others said he was jealous of Saeed’s popularity. “Goher Mumtaz is so salty. There’s always a reason why somebody becomes a star and somebody doesnt I used to feel bad for him because he was so talented as a composer but it shows why he never made it Farhan and Atif became such big stars and still humble,” wrote a user on X (formerly Twitter).
Another user wrote that Saeed and Mumtaz used to tease Aslam together in previous interviews. “There are clips in which Farhan was abusing Atif and his family in a dinner table with Goher. But from the first Atif never said anything wrong about them and look how tables turned.”
Another user wrote that “Goher is determined to ruin our childhood memories with his bitterness.”
On the other hand, Farhan’s response on Instagram was being heavily appreciated. Users wrote in the comments that they “love this response. Average life is still better life.” Another user commented on Farhan posting the video of his performance, saying “That’s a Pir Shahzaib move.”
(Edited by Prashant)