Is Nora Fatehi’s Bhuj song a remake of Pakistani singer Noor Jehan’s Zaalima Coca Cola Pila De? Internet reacts

Bhuj: The Pride of India released a new track titled Zaalima Coca Cola starring Nora Fatehi earlier this week. The song has been sung by Shreya Ghoshal and the music has been given by Tanishk Bagchi. While the song has received over 40 million views in just three days, the track appears to be a remake of an old Punjabi song of the same name, sung by Pakistani singer Noor Jehan.

The original Zaalima Coca Cola Pila De was released in 1986. Noor Jehan had recorded the song for the Punjabi film Chan Te Soorma. While Nora Fatehi’s song doesn’t recreate the entire track, Tanishk Bagchi and lyricist Vayu have retained the chorus of the song.

The remake hasn’t gone down well with internet users. Many criticised the film for not giving the original due credit. “#ZaalimaCocoCola @TSeries at least give credit to Madam Noor Jahan,” a fan said. “India boycotting Pakistani artists and then remaking their songs is hypocrisy at its best! #ZaalimaCocoCola originally sung by Noor jehan is iconic,” another said.

Another person wrote that the recreation doesn’t come close to the original track. The fan’s tweet read: “Zaalima Coca Cola Pila De was originally sung by Madam Noor Jehan. no one No one can even touch madam’s voice.”

This isn’t the first time that the song has been revisited. Back in 2016, the soft drink brand paid a tribute to Noor Jehan with the help of Pakistani singers Meesha Shafi and Umair Jaswal. The team gave a refreshing spin to the song. The makers of Bhuj: The Pride of India are yet to address the similarities.

Set in Gujarat, Bhuj: The Pride of India is based on the events of the Indo-Pak war in 1971. The film stars Ajay Devgn, who plays the role of IAF Squadron leader Vijay Karnik. He is tasked to reconstruct the Bhuj airbase ahead of the war. Ajay and Nora star alongside Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Ammy Virk, and Sharad Kelkar in Bhuj: The Pride of India.

During the shoot, Nora injured her head while filming an action sequence. “We were shooting for an action sequence and the director wanted to shoot the scene in a single take with one camera, hence my co-actor and I rehearsed the action choreography wherein he holds a gun to my face and I flick the gun out of his hands to start beating him up,” Nora said.

“It went perfect in our rehearsals which was literally five minutes before the take, however, when we started rolling the actual take, the coordination was off and the actor accidentally threw the gun to my face, due to which the end of the metal gun, which was by the way, really heavy, hit my forehead causing an injury and blood gushing out,” she added.

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Bhuj: The Pride of India, which releases on August 13 on Disney+ Hotstar, is set to clash with Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani’s Shershaah.