A song, more than half a century old, with guest appearances by former Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, has struck discordant notes after California-based sarod maestro Aashish Khan claimed credit for its lyrics recently. The song had been lost for decades but was found during last year’s lockdown.
Khan, who is the vocalist of the ‘Radhe Shyam’ song, claimed on social media that it was he, and not journalist Suresh Joshi as is being widely reported, who was the original composer and lyricist of the song. Khan has warned Joshi of legal action if he fails to remove the “unfinished” track of the song from where it is loaded.
Aashish Khan has worked with Satyajit Ray (Apur Sansar), Sir Richard Attenborough (Gandhi), John Houston, Clint Eastwood, David Lean and Ismail Merchant. He has composed music for Tapan Sinha’s Jatugriha and telefilm Aadmi Aur Aurat.
According to the Liverpool Beatles Museum’s website, Suresh Joshi was working on the music for his documentary film, East Meets West, when George Harrison turned up at the studio and offered to play on the track, and Ringo also came there soon thereafter and graciously offered to do the same. The master tape was stored in Joshi’s loft until his meeting with entrepreneur Deepak Pathak, the son of an old friend. Deepak sent the master tape to music producer Suraj Sinh who restored the tape and mixed the song.