Our Bureau
Mumbai
Adnan Sami who is a former citizen of Pakistan was on India TV in an interview talking about the struggles he faced in Pakistan and what led to him becoming an Indian citizen. Sami is a well-known and recognised singer and composer who was born in Pakistan but later found success as a singer in India and became a permanent citizen over here.
While in an interview with Rajat Sharma in his show Aap ki Adalat, Sami was asked what led to him moving to India and whether money was one of the driving forces behind his move. Sami expressed how money was never his main motive and he moved to India solely because he was facing a lot of troubles across the border.
Sami said, “Money wasn’t my driving force. In fact, when I came here, I had to start from scratch again. I was facing a lot of problems then as a Pakistani citizen, especially in a public profession. Everyone knows all your moves. I had even reached out to Musharraf for help.”
When he mentioned Pervez Musharraf, Sami was asked about the infamous letter Pakistan’s former President wrote to his parents. Sami answered, “There was no truth to that letter. In 2005, I wasn’t an Indian citizen. I was a Pakistani citizen. I don’t know where he got the wrong information from. It’s obvious that it’s gone from the bottom to the top. That’s why everyone just disowned me.”
Sami explained how he was struggling to find his place in the Pakistani music industry as they didn’t support him after his 1998 releases. He explained how he was getting troubled by the industry and got no marketing support for his songs and albums.
“After the songs I released in 1998, people in the Pakistani music industry thought I’m finished. So, they didn’t provide any marketing for those songs. Nobody got to know when the album released and vanished. I was very dejected. I was in Canada at that time. I knew they’d done that on purpose,” Sami explained.
It was a well-known fact that India’s legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle played a huge role in getting the Pakistani singer to the Indian scene. Talking about her influence, Adnan Sami recalled their conversation, “‘Why do you want to record in London?’ she asked me. I said I know some people there. So she said, ‘See, if you really want to do something new, come to Mumbai. This is the capital of Hindi music. Whatever gets popular here would spread out to the rest of the world. So this is the place to come.’”
