Ila Arun interview: Got so much royalty from Diljit Dosanjh's Choli Ke Peeche, want him to pick up more of my songs

Ila Arun may not have lent her voice to a Bollywood song for 12 years now, but the Hindi film industry still can't get enough of her. Two of her most popular songs were recreated for Rajesh A Krishnan's hit heist comedy Crew last year – Ghagra and Choli Ke Peeche, that she co-sang with Alka Yagnik for Subhash Ghai's 1993 crime drama Khal Nayak. Ila may have voiced her protest against the use of these songs sans her permission, but she's now made peace with it.

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On Choli Ke Peeche and related controversies

“It is wrong. But I settled with them (Tips Music) on my own. I told them just because you have access to AI (artificial intelligence) now, you can't discount artists. But after Diljit Dosanjh's Choli Ke Peechhe, I got so much royalty that I want him to pick up a few more of my songs," Ila told Hindustan Times. Diljit performed the song not only for the Kareena Kapoor-Tabu-Kriti Sanon-starrer, but also as part of his popular Dil-Luminati Tour in India and overseas last year.

Only recently, Ila's daughter Ishitta Arun, an actor and singer herself, lamented on the podcast Cyrus Says that her mother didn't get the kind of singing offers she deserved. But Ila feels that's the daughter in Ishitta speaking, instead of the artist. “She believes that her mother has more depth than the songs she was offered to sing. Songs like Reshma, which are a part of my albums. That's her personal point of view. My take is that the industry is commercial. Whatever works, sustains. If my sad numbers work, they'd sustain. I have no complaints. I love my film industry and I'm proud to be a part of the Mumbai film industry, as a singer and as an actor. The kind of roles I want to do, I get in theatre, so that's where I invest my commitment in,” Ila argues.