The villagers who crooned 'Mehangayi Daayan..' in Aamir Khan's 'Peepli Live' and had complained over 'meagre' payment for its rendition now say they are satisfied as the production house has paid them Rs 6 lakh for the same.
Gayaprasad Prajapati, a teacher from Badwai village in Madhya Pradesh, has penned the number and sung it with his troupe, had earlier this week raised the issue of 'meagre' payment for the song.
"The dispute over payment has been settled. The production house has paid us Rs 6 lakh. Though we had demanded Rs 11 lakh initially, we are happy and satisfied with what we have got. The amount will be divided among the 11 singers of the group," Prajapati said. Prajapati, who writes bhajans and songs as a hobby, said, "we have no complaints against Aamirji...we have got lot of respect, love and recognition from him."
"We were sad as we got only Rs 1,100...we did not deserve such a meagre payment. After they (the movie crew) left we had no idea how and whom to approach, so we came before media," he said. Given the popularity of the song, Aamir Khan, who invited the troupe to Mumbai for the music launch on Tuesday evening, took the responsibility over the payment issue.
Producer Aamir Khan said the musical troupe should have been paid long before. "The production team thought that the line producer was handling it (the payment issue) and Badwai Village Mandali thought the production would pay them. I know we should have paid them long before but the issue got slipped from my mind due to busy schedule," Aamir said.
The production house should not be blamed...it was my mistake, Aamir said, adding, "everything has been resolved amicably." Written and directed by debutante Anusha Rizvi, the film deals with problems of the villagers and subsequent media and political reaction.
"When I was upset with the inflation a year back, I had composed the song. When the unit of 'Peepli Live' started shooting in our village they approached me and asked to present my poems on the issues that we face here. I recited the song, they liked it and that is how it was included in the movie," Prajapati said.
The movie, scheduled to be released on August 13, stars Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghuvir Yadav, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Naseeruddin Shah and Malaika Shenoy. PTI
