Punjabi singer AP Dhillon has carved a niche for himself by entertaining audiences with chart-topping hits such as Brown Munde, Excuses, With You and Dil Nu, among others. In a recent conversation on a podcast with YouTube channel SMTV, Dhillon opened up about why he has never sung for Bollywood and accused certain actors of exploiting artistes.
AP Dhillon on refusing to sing songs for Bollywood movies
AP Dhillon discussed refusing to sing for Bollywood and said in Punjabi, “I’ll tell you why I’ve never done a Bollywood song yet. It’s only because I care for my people. It’s not about Bollywood. I want to set an example for my people. I told them that I’m happy to do a song for them, but they must first change the way they do business. They exploit the song and the artiste for their own profit. I don’t want to take names, but a couple of huge actors said that they want my music in their film. I made the song; we even had the scene in mind. But they want to own the song, they want the rights to the song, the remix rights, they want to exploit. That’s not correct.”
He further added, “So, I told them that until they change this, I can’t do a song with them. If I do it, then junior artistes will also have to do it, and I don’t want them to. I don’t want a young artiste to lose out on their source of income by selling their hit song. I don’t want them to be exploited. But the only problem is that the other A-listers are still giving songs.”
Dhillon went on to explain that unless other Punjabi artistes draw a line and say no, there will be no real progress. He noted that if he refuses, Bollywood producers would simply approach the next big Punjabi artiste, as there are “only three or four” of them.
While many Punjabi singers such as Diljit Dosanjh, Karan Aujla, Honey Singh and Badshah have delivered hit songs in Bollywood, AP Dhillon has so far refrained from lending his voice to the industry. He recently collaborated with Shreya Ghoshal on the track Thodi Si Daaru, which also featured Tara Sutaria.
AP Dhillon’s upcoming tour
The singer has announced his ‘One of One India Tour’, during which he will perform in eight cities. The tour will kick off on 5 December in Ahmedabad, followed by Delhi on 7 December, Ludhiana on 12 December, Pune on 14 December, Bengaluru on 19 December, Kolkata on 21 December, Mumbai on 26 December, and will conclude in Jaipur on 28 December.