Pakistani singers are trying their best to make it to Bollywood. Bollywood directors wittingly or unwittingly are letting Pakistani singers render their voice for Hindi movies. Pakistani singers are making it big back home because of mass level exposure and sky rocketing sales of their albums. Then Bollywood singers criticise Pakistani singers and musicians for trying to take over the Bollywood music domain without being thankful to India for letting them sing for Hindi movies. It has become a worrisome situation for local Indian talent.

Hadiqa’s Tuk Tuk When Hadiqa Kiyani first started out she faced criticism for being a Nazia-Hassan imitator but her debut album, Raaz (1995) still managed to make a mark. From the early days of Jaan-e- Jaan to Mann Di Mauj, Hadiqa continued to experiment. With her second record, Hadiqa tossed the tag aside. Music critics and fans were waking up to her rising star power in an industry where female musicians were still scarce. After switching record labels last year, Hadiqa released an album titled Aasmaan. The video of the first single of the album was Sohnya which premiered a day before she released the album. Hadiqa then released her second single off the album titled Tuk Tuk. The video was directed in India by Sajan Agarwaal. This was Hadiqa's first video ever to be shot in India. Rightfully, the video carries out a strong Bollywood theme, Hadiqa Kiyani told her fans off her Facebook page that the video was a parody video of a Filmy Muhalla. "India is a bigger market and projects have to have some kind of credibility." Hadiqa said. Tuk Tuk soared number one on UK's Prime TV Charts after its release.

Sonu’s Spite Against Pak Singers He is a classy and brilliant singer who has done jobs on different fronts of the entertainment world i.e. playback singing, music albums, TV shows’ anchoring, judging the programmes and acting. The vocalist has succeeded in some departments and failed in others. But on the singing front, he got the position he deserved. But recently, the singer talked badly about the Indian director Farhan Akhtar and Pakistani singers, which certainly will make his popularity graph go downwards since his fan following is not only limited to India but stretches worldwide.  On Zee News show, ‘Kahiye Janab’, Sonu Nigam very openly showed his attitude and talked abrasively about Farhan Akhtar and Pakistani singers. He said, "Nowadays, songs have become just ring tones. Producers and directors ask for ring tones. I don’t consider Farhan a singer… and I don’t think he does either. Pakistani singers should thank us at least once because of the respect they get in India. Why do all Pakistani singers take money for concerts in cash, and do they pay taxes? All the money they get is black money”. Wonder…is this jealousy that makes him talk like this about Farhan Akhter and Pakistani singers? Guess, neither Farhan nor any Pakistani singers have uttered against Sonu? Then what’s the reason behind Sonu’s spite? Do you our readers know it?  To polish off Sonu’s drivel it is worth considering that why should anyone get respect unless they got what it takes?

Rahat’s Entry Into Bollywood It was in 2003 when a small budget movie Waisa Bhi Hota Hai (Part II) starring Arshad Warsi was released. The movie itself wasn’t a success but it did introduce the now successful singer, Kailash Kher who became an overnight sensation with his debut song "Allah Ke Bande”. A year later, in 2004, in Pooja Bhatt’s directorial venture, Paap, Ali Azmat was introduced who composed the background music. In the Paap album, a song that was immensely popular was "Mann Ki Lagan” and what made the song a winner was the reminiscent voice of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Being the nephew of the legendary and late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has his own distinctive and mesmerising voice that enthralled listeners. Following the success of "Mann Ki Lagan”, Pakistani singers have proven to be a good luck charm for the Bhatt camp. From Zeher to Gansgster, their music albums have been great hits regardless of the fate of the movie and at times it was the success of the music that drove people to watch the movie. Besides the Bhatts, Madhur Bhandarkar in his recent directorial venture, Corporate, included a Sufi rendition of the song "O Sikandar” sung by Kailash Kher. And how can we forget about Karan Johar who joined the Sufi trend and gave us "Mitwa” sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan in his Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Needless to say that both were chartbusters.  The Bollywood music front hasn’t been able to bring out any distinctive elements in their music lately, and it has been more about countless remixes of one song which in the end lacks originality and gets quite repetitive. On the other hand, Pakistani singers have really improved and progressed in recent times and has a distinctive charm in their singing. They bring out their own cultural flavours in their songs. Unfortunately, they are unable to get the needed exposure in their country and thus are always on the lookout for bigger and better opportunities and Bollywood is that opportunity, the platform that will give them their deserved exposure. What Pakistani singers brought to the Bollywood music front was uniqueness and that made them succeed. Today, anything with a Sufi influence guarantees success in Hindi movies.

Atif Aslam on Bollywood and Relationship Atif Aslam began his career with ‘Jal’ band but he says that ‘Jal’ was never a part of his journey, and he created his own identity.  While talking to a local channel, he said that many Bollywood producers approached him with different offers, but he was waiting for the right script. His character in the upcoming Bollywood flick, is the exact opposite of his glamorous image. It is of a low profile middle class boy studying to be a doctor. He is also working at the film’s music. The film was shot in Norway, and the story is about a city boy in love with a girl, very reminiscent of stories from old Lahore, according to Atif. He conceded that he is not a learnt actor, but he is working hard and is hoping to explore himself better through his acting. The movie is expected to be released by the end of this year.  Atif is not working on a solo album and instead concentrating only on playback singing. He said that he prefers to be known as a quality singer and not as an other fame hungry individual.  He intentionally avoids media and their strange gossips. He said that you cannot win everyone and he has attempted to win only a few people. Talking about the relationship, he said, "It’s not the right time to get involved in an affair because if you love someone, you need to devote a large chunk of your time to that person and I don’t have enough time. My priorities at this time are different.”

This should infact has been a worrisome situation since the days when Biddu - the world renowned composer of Indian origin produced the platinum-selling album of the movie Disco Deewane, inducted Nazia Hassan and Zohaib in the Indian music industry and the duo soared to unequivocal heights. That was the beginning of the so-called or rightly-called invasion of Bollywood by Pakistani musicians. A major mix of talent did exist between the two countries until their ties got stressed out by various reasons. But that is not our focal point here.
Nazia, as I recollect, was featured on the MAG cover in the days of Disco Deewane. The duo returned to Pakistan with a new trend of 80s pop in their minds and altered the local Pakistani music scene. And they conquered without any competition. Pakistan was destined to get to the top of Pop music after throngs of local boys and girls started venturing out into music turning their hobbies into business. India at that time was still concentrating on filmy music. India’s showbiz part of the industry excelled in movies and all songs were created for their masses. Pop and Rock or New Age was not a desirable option for movie/filmy music. There had to be a certain kind of element attached to it without which Indian music would slowly and steadily become outdated.
While trends of movie soundtracks were globally being experimented with and many forms of non-conventional music entered the movie domain, India was still busy making the same run-of-the-mill filmy songs with almost the same century old traditional instruments and not budging out from their pure desi or heavily classical influences. In Pakistan the movie industry had almost vanished but the music industry was flourishing as it was, along with acting on television, the most popular showbiz act here. Had it not been for the emergence of A.R. Rehman’s compositions, India would still be making music on conventional lines - the very filmy music. A.R. Rehman, with his dedicated Kitaro, Claude Challe, Buddha Bar and the New Age influences composed and arranged, created waves in Indian music industry which further led Bollywood directors to realise the need to change and hence opened doors for Pakistani talent. 
While India had University of Poona, from where many graduated in filmy/classical music, Pakistan was brimming with underground rock and pop artists churning out their music from their parents’ garages
or their own rooms. Jamming on the styles of USA and Brit artists, Pakistani kids – the musicians to be - did not get formal training but experimented and learned by trial and error. Where to an Indian kid, a sitar would be more attractive, for a Pakistani teenager the guitar would do the job. Or let us just say more than do the job. All that we are trying to say is that Pakistani kids were into making music of various genres while Indian kids stuck to filmy and at the most, Brit Bhangra which also faded after the fad ended. Simply put, India was breeding playback singers and Pakistan was breeding Pop, Rock and New Age artists. Pop, Rock and New Age were the future of experimental music and eventually became the choice of masses. This phenomenon outdated traditional filmy playbacks and triggered a stiff competetion.
According to Aakir Patel, a renowned columnist of India, "We have not had a real singer after Kishore Kumar worth mentioning”. Rightly said, as after the demise of Kishore no one actual carried on his legacy. Artists like Sonu Nigam, Shaan and Udit Narayan emerged and did a great job of carrying on with the filmy class of singing but when the need arose for a little diversity, and when the directors wanted a different genre to be introduced according to the movie’s requirements, they had only one place to look at: Pakistan. Pakistani artists were eager for publicity and money. Besides, Pakistani singers also charged less for their music. This started becoming a slight trend when the need of cost effective musical creativity arose. Another major plus point was that Pakistani Pop songs, those that were selected by the Bollywood directors, were already popular and had gone through the fame charts in Pakistan. Instead of just simply copying them, the Pakistani artists could perform them with slight directorial changes, which this new found demographic talent was more than keen to do. The next step was that a song would be developed in Pakistan and then taken on by Bollywood for the movie industry’s consumption. And this is how names like Rahat Fateh Ali, Adnan Sami, Atif Aslam and myriad others made their mark, which sooner, turned into a trend. A slight clarification is needed here. After the popularity of Adnan Sami’s album with Aasha Bhosle, the female got better opportunities in Pop genres and remixes in local Indian music. Adnan himself soon became an icon. Today Adnan Sami and Jermaine Jackson produce songs for Bollywood megahit blockbusters. When local Pakistani talents saw Adnan’s success, they tried to follow suit and it wasn’t a miracle that they soon make their way in the Bollymusic domain. Similar was the case of Nusrat Fateh Ali which was taken forward by Rahat Fateh Ali. Atif Aslam too joined the club. Not the mile high – the trans-border music club. 
Many could not make it, and blamed Bollywood’s strategy. But the crux of the matter is that if there really is talent, Bollywood would surely pick it up. This is not biased behavior. This is talking sales and counting the box office pennies falling into the producer’s bank account. Not just the singers and musicians who did not make it to the mainstream of Bollywood complained but louder cries could be heard from Bollywood itself. Many Indian music directors, whose market share was cut, cringed and complained. Blaming it on ethinicity – the Muslim connection. This is surprising since when it comes to money matters no matter who or what religion, people tend to look beyond these boundaries. Ironically, it only pertains to economic viability and nothing more. However, the fact is that many hit tracks from Bollywood movies sports Pakistani names. Especially the recent controversy where Atif Aslam joined to do a track portrayed on Vivek Oberoi.
Bollywood is apparently worried what will become of their local talent. It is not that they do not have the required talent but they have not diversified. The spicy dholak, cowbell, congo and violin sounds are all the Bollywood musicians are sticking to. Bollywood compositions are still done on harmonium or popularly known as paytee. Whereas, Pakistani musicians and singers going to Bollywood to make their songs on guitars and of course minus cowbells, dholaks, violins and other conventional instruments. Hindi music has not evolved as well as the Pakistani music did. And Pakistani artists are proven to be more talented in diversified musical genres since there were no movies to churn their music for. They relied solely on releasing their albums and then hunting for gigs. The biggest gig they now hunt is Hindi movies. After getting popularity, through Hindi movies, even if they do not become a blockbuster, creates enough ripples for them, since their population is a hundred times more than that of Pakistan. Simple mathematics and yes Pakistani youngsters are more talented. It seems more than a fad now and no matter how much anyone cringes or shrieks the only hitch that India can create is the problematic visa process for Pakistani artists. But is it really a hitch now?