Unhappy with recreation of his another song “Masakali“, music maestro A R Rahman asked his fans to listen to the original track as he said his team put in a lot of hardwork and sleepless nights in composing it.

The track, penned by Prasoon Joshi and sung by Mohit Chauhan, had featured in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s 2009 feature Delhi6, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor.

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On Wednesday, Bhushan Kumar’s T-series launched the remixed version of the song from composer Tanishq Bagchi and singers Tulsi Kumar and Sachet Tandon. The track’s music video features Sidharth Malhotra and Tara Sutaria.

Rahman posted a brief statement on Twitter, saying he never took “short cuts” in his career and urged other musicians to do the same.

“No short cuts, properly commissioned, sleepless nights, writes and re-writes. Over 200 musicians, 365 days of creative brainstorming with the aim to produce music that can last generations.

“A team of a director, a composer and a lyricist supported by actors, dance directors and a relentless film crew,” the music composer said.

Rahman also posted a link to the original song in the tweet, reading, “#Masakali Enjoy the original.”

Enjoy the original #Masakali https://t.co/WSKkFZEMB4@RakeyshOmMehra @prasoonjoshi_ @_MohitChauhan pic.twitter.com/9aigZaW2Ac

— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) April 8, 2020

Mehra was more direct in his criticism, saying that the recreated “Masakali” track will damage the eardrums of the listeners.

“#Masakali #Delhi6 created with love and passion an iconic song that has to be preserved. Beware of the remix it will damage your eardrums,” Mehra said.

Joshi, who currently heads the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), said he was saddened to see exploitation of the original track.

“All songs written for #Delhi6 including #Masakali close to heart, sad to see when original creation of @arrahman @prasoonjoshi_ &singer @_MohitChauhan insensitively utilised. Up to the conscience of @Tseries. Hopefully the fans will stand for originality.@RakeyshOmMehra,” Joshi wrote on Twitter.

All songs written for #Delhi6 including #Masakali close to heart,sad to see when original creation of @arrahman @prasoonjoshi_ &singer @_MohitChauhan insensitively utilised. Upto the conscience of @Tseries. Hopefully the fans will stand for originality. @RakeyshOmMehra

— Prasoon Joshi (@prasoonjoshi_) April 8, 2020

Though Kapoor and Chauhan are yet to break silence on the recreated song, the actor and the singer shared Rahman’s tweet on their respective Twitter handles.

The team of the original also found support from filmmaker Hansal Mehta who termed the remixed version of “Masakali” as “awful and ear shattering”.

“Yes. I am reacting to the awful, ear shattering #Masakali version. But check its YouTube views in 48 hrs. Then see how DJs blast it at events. And how people groove to the god awful version. S**t sells. While we cringe, somebody is laughing his way to the bank,”Mehta wrote in twitter.

Yes. I am reacting to the awful, ear shattering #Masakali version. But check its YouTube views in 48 hrs. Then see how DJs blast it at events. And how people groove to the godawful version. Shit sells. While we cringe, somebody is laughing his way to the bank.

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) April 9, 2020

T-Series and Bagchi are yet to respond to the controversy.

This is not the first time that Rahman’s songs have been recreated. Earlier this year, Varun Dhawan-starrer Street Dancer 3D had featured a remixed version of Rahman’s cult classic track “Muqabla“.