Before Arijit Singh, Shahid Mallya Sang Channa Mereya; Here's Why The Singer Was Replaced

Shahid Mallya is one of the most talented singers in the Indian music industry. He has given hit tracks such as Rabba Main Toh Marr Gaya, Kudmayi, Shauq and more. However, he didn't have an easy ride in the industry and was once replaced by Arijit Singh in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

Why Shahid Mallya was replaced by Arijit Singh?

During an interview with Bollywood Bubble, the singer revealed that he had sung Channa Mereya from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, but the composer replaced him citing the reason that they are choosing a singer who had “good Spotify followers.” Arijit Singh was then picked to give his voice for the song. On being replaced, he told the composer "When you called me in for the song, didn’t you check who has the most followers?" and added that this was such a useless answer.

“For two years I saw that that song was in Pritam sir's studio and just 3-4 days before the release, music composer Pritam called me and said that 'Shahid we are really sorry for this, production wanted another singer to sing this song so they made Arijit sing it'. He added that Pritam was the one who composed the song and Amitabh Bhattacharya penned the lyrics, but out of all he was replaced. "All of them did not change but I did and this broke my heart". However, he is happy that it was Arijit who sang the song.

What do we know about Channa Mereya?

The song is from a hit film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The song is based on Ranbir's character and became one of the best songs Arijit had sung so far in his entire career.