Abhijeet Bhattacharya lands in legal soup over 'Mahatma Gandhi father of Pakistan' remark

Abhijeet Bhattacharya Pic/AFP

Playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, who once was the voice of Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan in film music, is back to doing what he does best: courting controversies. After making headlines over being snubbed after Dua Lipa's India concert, Abhijeet is on the radar for his comments on Mahatma Gandhi which has landed him in a legal soup.

What Abhijeet Bhattacharya said about Mahatma Gandhi

Abhijeet Bhattacharya told Shubhankar Mishra on his podcast, "Music composer R. D. Burman was bigger than Mahatma Gandhi. Like Mahatma Gandhi was the father of the nation, R. D. Burman was the father of the nation in the world of music".

If this wasn't enough, the singer went on to launch a more scathing attack on Gandhi calling him the father of nation for Pakistan.

"Mahatma Gandhi was the father of the nation for Pakistan and not India. India already existed, Pakistan was carved out of India later. Gandhi has been mistakenly called the father of nation for India. He was the one responsible behind the existence of Pakistan", he added.

Pune lawyer files case against Abhijeet Bhattacharya

According to a report by The Free Press Journal, Pune-based lawyer, Asim Sarode, who claims to be representing one Manish Deshpande and other law students, has threatened to initiate criminal prosecution against Abhijeet if he fails to submit a written apology for his comments on Mahatma Gandhi.

Abhijeet Bhattacharya's music journey

Abhijeet Bhattacharya was launched by R. D. Burman in a Bengali film with a duet song with veteran singer Asha Bhosle. He did stage shows as a singer with R. D. Burman during the initial phase of his career. He has sung for Bollywood actors like Mithun Chakrabarty, Vijay Anand, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Akshaye Khanna, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Ajay Devgan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor, Chandrachur Singh, Bobby Deol, Jitendra Kumar and Jimmy Shergill. In 1992, came ‘Khiladi', in which he sang songs like ‘Waada Raha Sanam', ‘Khud Ko Kya Samajhti Hai', ‘Kya Khabar Thi Jaana' composed by Jatin-Lalit. Following this he gave many massive hits in the '90s.