Aima Baig has five unreleased songs she made for Bollywood
Despite political animosity, Pakistan and India have a mutual love for art. There have been many artists who have worked in the neighbouring country and are immensely popular there. Before India imposed a ban on Pakistani artists, there were several actors and singers who had signed up with productions there. Singer Aima Baig recently revealed in a podcast with Shahveer Jafry that she has five songs she had sung for Bollywood.
The Coke Studio singer said, “Me, along with some of my fellow members, who you all might know as well, recorded five songs each and then the incident happened,” referring to the 2016 ban. Jafry asked her if the songs ever got released, to which Baig said “Nah, but they will… one day.”
She revealed that one of the songs is for a movie starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan. “We recorded the songs in Dubai. They never let me enter India. I worked with amazing producers, with whom I always wanted to work with.
“If they don’t get released there then I’ll just release them here,” she said, adding that she doesn’t have the rights to the songs. “But I’ll find a way,” Baig laughed.
Rejecting Baarwan Khiladi
The pop singer was also apparently supposed to be part of Mahira Khan’s production series Baarwan Khiladi, which starred Jafry, Danyal Zafar, Khaqan Shahnawaz, Zarrar Khan, Kinza Hashmi and Hina Ashfaque. Baig was offered Ashfaque’s role, who played the love interest of Jafry and Zafar in the show.
The ‘Baazi’ singer revealed that four years ago, when she was offered the role, she had arthritis and was in a wheelchair since her bones were inflated. “I was literally in a wheelchair for about six months and I was also doing the Punjab tour at the same time.
“It got to a point where I was taking Methotrexate, a chemotherapy medicine. I lost most of my hair and I was just gaining weight because I was taking 12 steroids every morning, just to be able to do things. It was quite major and I went to a doctor in New York,” she said.
“In those days this was triggered so I told Mahira Khan this.” She added that she wasn’t comfortable sharing this with the other creators of the series, hence she only told Khan about it. “Mahira is the nicest, I don’t know why is she so nice. I have never met anyone sweeter than her,” Baig said.
The singer said that Khan told her that her uncle also had arthritis, so she understands how it works.
“That’s how the whole problem got settled very subtly and we have no beef between each other. Thanks to Mahira for actually understanding my situation back then,” the ‘Malang’ singer added.
Offer from Netflix
Talking about other acting opportunities, the singer revealed that she received an offer of a series on streaming giant Netflix. “Barwaan Khiladi was not the first offer that I received, before this I got an offer from several movies and dramas. Lately, I am also thinking about another one. No, no, I can’t say this, it’ll get me in trouble,” Baig said, to which the YouTuber asked if it was “movie or drama” and the singer responded, “It’s actually a web series for Netflix.”
“But I want to establish myself as a musician. I really want my original music to be out there in the world before I step into something else,” she added.
