Vivek Agnihotri claims Imran Khan 'illegally' used The Kashmir Files song in protest video; all you need to know

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested in a high-profile case on Thursday afternoon. The beleaguered former leader had shared a video ahead of his arrest on Instagram where he was seen to be arriving in a cavalcade. Interestingly, the audio in the post was Hum Dekhenge, the version of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s famous poem used in last year’s Bollywood blockbuster The Kashmir Files, something the film’s director Vivek Agnihotri has taken exception to.

Imran Khan had shared the video on Wednesday with the audio clearly labelled as Hum Dekhenge, crediting the artistes Swapnil Bandodkar, Pallavi Joshi, Shazad Ali, Salman Ali, Meghna Mishra, and Ananya Wadkar. The song is a rendition of Pakistani poet and author Faiz’s famous poem, which has been used in protests over the years.

Hum Dekhenge in The Kashmir Files

On Friday, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri shared the video on his Twitter account and wrote, “See the power of Indic cinema. The official account of @ImranKhanPTI is using the official song of #TheKashmirFiles illegally in his official video on Instagram.” The filmmaker called this the ‘irony of Pakistan’. When a few Twitter users pointed out that the poem was originally written by Faiz, Agnihotri responded, “For the ill informed, this is written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz. We bought the rights from Faiz House. There are many versions. This is our legal copyright version.”

IRONY OF PAKISTAN:

See the power of Indic cinema. The official account of @ImranKhanPTI is using the official song of #TheKashmirFiles illegally in his official video on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/ZyJPpKTXNa

— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) May 11, 2023

The origins of Hum Dekhenge

The song Hum Dekhenge has several versions and the one used in The Kashmir Files was indeed created after purchasing the rights for it from Faiz’s estate. Hoiwever, several other Twitter users pointed out that Instagram allows the use of parts of songs in Reels and videos as fair usage. One person tweeted, “Instagram allows songs to be added to videos in reels & stories. This is exactly what Imran Khan did. How is it illegal?”

Hum Dekhenge was written in 1979 by Faiz as a medium of protest against then Pakistan president Zia ul Haq’s oppressive regime. In the decades since, it has gained popularity as a song of protest and defiance among leftist movements in the subcontinent. Singer Iqbal Bano famously sang this at an event in 1986, leading to its cult popularity. In India, the song was used by protesters during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019-20.