Composer Anu Malik once slapped himself on national television to express his disappointment with singer Neha Kakkar’s performance, shows an old video from early 2000s that has recently resurfaced.
According to media reports, the video is from Kakkar’s audition for the second season of popular singing reality show Indian Idol in 2005. The viral clip shows her singing Aisa Lagta Hai from Refugee (2000) alongside another contestant. However, Kakkar’s performance failed to impress the judges — Malik, singer Sonu Nigam and filmmaker Farah Khan.
Expressing his disappointment, Malik said, “Neha Kakkar...Teri awaaz sun kar lagta hai main apne mooh par maaroon thappad, yaar! Kya ho gaya hai tere ko (I feel like slapping myself after hearing you perform. What has happened to you?)”
Malik went on to slap himself, leaving Kakkar shocked.
While Kakkar was eliminated from Indian Idol Season 2 early on, she rose to prominence with the song Second Hand Jawani from Cocktail (2012). Since then, the 37-year-old singer has delivered numerous chartbusters, including Sunny Sunny (2014), London Thumakda (2014), Dilbar (2018) and Garmi (2020). Kakkar recently recorded the song Moon Calling with rapper-singer Gur Sidhu.
Malik, 64, on the other hand, recently composed music for the film Zindagi Namkeen, starring Eshika Dey, Manjari Fadnnis and Shreyas Talpade.
Malik and Kakkar collaborated on the song Lift Teri Bandh Hai, which featured in the 2017 film Judwaa 2, fronted by Varun Dhawan.