Saiyaara composer Tanishk Bagchi says he's still waiting on royalties

Music composer Tanishk Bagchi has gone public with allegations that he has not been properly paid for composing the title track of Saiyaara, which went on to become the highest-grossing Indian romantic film of all time.

Tanishk Bagchi talks about unpaid dues over Saiyaara song

In a lengthy post shared on his Instagram account, Tanishk explained that he had signed on fully trusting the project because of how much he believed in the music. He described pouring himself into every stage of the track, from production and composition to working with the lyricist and singers, recording, vocal tuning, sound and arrangement, saying he treated it as if it were entirely his own.

According to the composer, whatever nominal fee YRF did pay him was absorbed by costs tied to live performances and mixes, leaving him, in his words, with effectively zero earnings from the song itself. He says his royalty statement shows he's still owed roughly INR 8 lakh, despite the track amassing millions of streams and views across platforms — an amount he called disproportionately small given the scale of the song's success and the work he put in.

He was careful to frame the post as something other than a plea for sympathy, saying he simply wanted people to know what he'd sacrificed to make the song happen. The experience, he wrote, has changed how he views the industry going forward. He said he now intends to work only with producers and directors who value creativity, honesty, and the people behind the music. He also reflected more broadly on how success can make people forget who stood by them along the way.

Tanishk ended the post by adding: "Time tells every story, and karma settles every account." Notably, he singled out director Mohit Suri and lyricist Irshad Kamil as the only people connected to the film he still holds respect for, crediting Suri specifically for bringing him onto the project in the first place.

Tanishk wrote the lyrics for the Saiyaara title track, which features vocals by Arslan Nizami and Faheem Abdullah and lyrics by Irshad Kamil. The song turned as one of the key Bollywood hits of 2025. Tanishk himself celebrated the achievement online at the time, praising director Mohit Suri, YRF, and the song's collaborators. It later rose to the top of Spotify's Global Viral 50 chart and helped bring debutants Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda to Hindi film.

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