Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's stand-up show, Naya Bharat, at Habitat Studio in Mumbai sparked a massive row over his jokes on Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Amid the controversy, he released a parody of Hawa Hawai from the 1987 film Mr. India, earlier today. However, T-Series, which owns the song, quickly issued a copyright strike. Reacting to the takedown, Kamra slammed the music company, calling it a "stooge."
Taking to his X (Twitter) account, Kunal lashed out at T-Series, stating that he did not use the lyrics or the original instrumentation of the song. Sharing a screenshot, heclaimed that a video of his parody act has been flagged by YouTube for a copyright violation.
He wrote, "Hello @TSeries, stop being a stooge. Parody & satire comes under fair use Legally. I haven’t used the lyrics or the original instrumental of the song."
Check out Kunal Kamra's tweet:
Further, he added, "If you take this video down, every cover song/dance video can be taken down. Creators, please take a note of it. Having said that, every monopoly in India is nothing short of the Mafia, so please watch/download this special before it’s taken down. FYI—T-Series stays in Tamil Nadu."
Kamra's video has also been blocked from YouTube by T-Series due to copyright.
According to several reports, Kamra, who's number was leaked, has received 500 threat calls after the controversy.
After Kunal's 'gaddar' remark on Eknath Shinde, the workers from Shiv Sena party vandalised The Habitat Club where Kamra performed the set.
On Monday evening, Kunal issued a statement following the backlash, asserting that he will not apologise, stating that it is "not against the law to poke fun at leaders and the circus that is the political system."
