From Legal Summons to Plagiarism Accusations, Here Are 5 Guru Randhawa Controversies You Need to Know About

Gursharanjot Singh Randhawa, better known as Guru Randhawa, is arguably one of the most popular Punjabi pop artists. With hits like ‘Ban Ja Tu Meri Rani’, ‘Suit Suit’, ‘Lahore’, among others, he has not only established himself as a credible artist but has also amassed a huge following.

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However, for the singer, not everything has been smooth. From legal summons to plagiarism accusation, here are a few controversies surrounding Guru Randhawa that you need to know about.

Legal Summons

As per the latest media reports, Randhawa has received a legal summon from a local court in Ludhiana for his controversial lyrics in his new song ‘Sirra’. Rajdeep Mann Singh, who filed the complaint, accused the singer of disrespecting Sikh traditions and promoting drug culture. The complaint stems from a particular set of lyrics from his song ‘Sirra’, which can be roughly translated to ‘We are the sons of Jats. We got opium as our first food when we were born.” Mann argues that it is derogatory to the Sikh custom of ‘gurti’, where a newborn is given sugar or honey to impart good characteristics in the future.

Social Media Backlash

Mere days before the legal trouble over ‘Sirra’, Randhawa faced serious social media backlash over yet another new song of his song ‘Azul’. In the music video of the song, Randhawa plays a photography teacher who is clearly captivated by a girl in a school uniform. Netizens called out the predatory undertones of the video and lambasted the singer for sexualising schoolgirls and romanticizing unethical dynamic between teacher and students. The singer resorted to switching off comments on his social media to deal with the situation.

Tiff With T-Series

Randhawa hinted at an ongoing issue between him and the music label T-Series on Twitter earlier this year. A fan of the actor wrote, “@TSeries is trying to block Guru from working independently or with another label! Shame on you”. It came with a screenshot which read, “The video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by TSeries Music”. The singer replied to the tweet saying, “Big people faces big problems. The issue will get resolved in few days and we will come back stronger then ever.” There has been no further update about the issue. 

Complaints by Jasleen Royal

Randhawa was also engaged in a controversy with singer Jasleen Royal, who filed a lawsuit against him, citing copyright infringement. Interestingly, the same lawsuit also named T-Series and lyricist Raj Ranjodh. Jasleen claimed that the song ‘All Right’ released by T-Series featuring vocals by Guru Randhawa used her original music composition without her permission. Following the lawsuit, an interim order was issued to remove the song ‘All Right’ from all streaming platforms.

Plagiarism Accusations

Guru was accused of plagiarising former One Direction member Zayn Malik’s song “It’s You” for his song ‘Taare’. From the tonality to the setting of the music video, netizens found the two songs to be very similar. However, Randhawa, denying the accusations, said, “Mujhe nahi lagta maine Zayn Malik ka koi music copy kara hai. Aur agar kara bhi ho toh koi baat nahi. Mein ache logon ka music copy karna chahta hoon life mein.”