The influential YouTuber, Rahim Pardesi, is no stranger to the Pakistani public. Now, with millions of views on multiple videos, the YouTuber started his career with comedic skits and then switched over to daily vlogs and eventually even took a shot at making music.
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Earlier last month, Rahim and his team – called the ‘Pardesi Squad’ – took the internet by storm when they released his song ‘Enta Habibi’, crossing over a million views on YouTube in just 5 days.
The song came out on the 2oth of June, starring Dubai-based singer Natalia Itani. It took a very short amount of time to blow up, and the internet seemed to love the song. The track is fun and upbeat and was shot in Dubai, capturing exotic locations and luxury cars all over the city.
In an interview, Rahim stated that music was always ‘in his blood’ and that the writer of the song, his friend Shamroz Butt, was to be accredited for the compatibility of the song with Rahim’s acquired persona and the success it brought the team.
The song has now crossed 1.9 million views, which is a huge success for Rahim and his team. Shamroz Butt, who Rahim gives credit to for writing the song, works with Rahim’s record label and manages the writing aspect of the composition for most of his songs.
Two days ago, Star Shah, a Punjabi artist himself, took to Instagram to claim that the song was in fact written by him and not Shamroz, stating that he was deeply disappointed in how his work was stolen from him.
Star Shah is a Punjabi singer and rapper from Okara, with multiple releases that were received very well by Pakistani audience. His very first releases, ‘Okara Wala’ and ‘Babbar Sher’, were met with great love from the public and surpassed 64,000 views shortly after their release.
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The artist claims that Shamroz Butt, a mutual between him and Rahim who was given credit for the composition of the song, knew of him before and reached out to him asking if he could help him write the song.
Star states that once he did write the song, Shamroz was unresponsive and never got back to him regarding consent or his intentions for the song.
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He also says that there was no mention of Rahim or the Pardesi Squad whatsoever and that he was very shocked to hear his own words in a song that had blown up to such an extent on the internet. Star Shah then turned to his own record label, ‘Shamas-Kaari’, which then helped him voice his concerns to fans on Instagram.
The short Instagram video opens with Star Shah sitting in front of a camera, praising Enta Habibi and its success on YouTube. He says that the song is doing really well, but he wants to get a message across to Rahim bhai, of whom he has personally been a big fan of in the past.
Referring to the lyrics of the song, Shah states that the lines he has written and Rahim has sung were composed by none other than himself, the guy ‘joh aapke saamne betha hay’.
He addresses Rahim directly, stating that Shamroz reached out to him and took his intellectual property, and that he got no recognition for his art whatsoever.
Star then refers to the description box in the YouTube video, expressing that his name was nowhere to be seen.
Star Shah ends his video in frustration at the whole situation, and especially at Shamroz Butt.
Star Shah believes that his fans are very loyal to him and were also angered the situation, demanding an apology from Rahim.
‘Shamas-Kaari’, Star’s record label, is trying to help him get the word out about the situation. Representatives from the label state that Star Shah is an incredibly humble and talented artist, whose only goal is to get his poetry across to his fans.
Representatives from Shamas-Kaari told MangoBaaz that all Star would want is for his creative work to be recognized and is not really looking to make any profit from it whatsoever. They expressed that they have been impressed with Star Shah’s conduct ever since they first discovered him in Okara and that they too are disappointed with the situation. The label stands for social justice and the expression of art in its truest form, and claims that it will keep fighting for Star Shah and other artists like him until they receive credit for their own intellectual property.
Upon reaching out to Rahim Pardesi’s team, MangoBaaz was told that they are aware of Star Shah’s distress and are in discussions about what to do about the situation.
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The great thing here is that his team has taken notice of the situation and we can all hope that a due process will be conducted to ensure justice is served. Also, neither of the two parties seem to want drama, which is also a relief. What is your take on the situation? Let us know in the comments!
