The one-year anniversary of the highest-grossing romantic film in Indian cinema history just triggered a very public financial feud. On Saturday, composer Tanishk Bagchi took to Instagram to claim he has earned absolutely nothing from the blockbuster Saiyaara title track.
Bagchi alleges that Yash Raj Films still owes him ₹8 lakh in pending royalties. But the composer says the core issue is that his nominal upfront fee vanished entirely into production costs. He detailed to his followers how the initial payout was fully exhausted to cover the costs of live recording and sound mixing. That left him with a net profit of “zero” for a song that pulled millions of global streams. He called the pending ₹8 lakh “like peanuts” compared to the revenue the track generated.
YRF Entertainment did not let the allegations sit. The studio fired back with a rapid official statement clarifying their payout structure. According to a report outlining the studio’s defense, YRF asserted that the title track was never a solo composition. The studio claims the music was a strict three-way collaboration between Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah, and Arslan Nizami.
Because of that shared credit, YRF says all royalties have been distributed equally among the three artists. The studio insists every payment and split was executed exactly according to the mutually agreed contractual terms signed before the film’s release.
The friction highlights an old, systemic fight in Bollywood over fair compensation. Bagchi has publicly fought this battle before when advocating for Western-style royalty structures to protect lyricists and sound engineers. It also puts a stain on a historic milestone. Released in July 2025, Saiyaara launched the debut of Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda and went on to gross ₹577 crore globally. The title track itself broke records, becoming the first Hindi film song to reach the top 5 on Spotify’s global charts without relying on international artist features, peaking at number four.
Despite his sharp criticism of the studio’s financial structure, Bagchi specifically exempted director Mohit Suri and lyricist Irshad Kamil from his complaints, noting his respect for their creative support during the production.