Amaal Mallik has never been one to stay quiet about the music industry’s uncomfortable truths – and his latest interview is no different. Speaking to Zoom, the composer-singer laid out in plain numbers what India’s royalty system actually means for the people who make the music. The numbers are stark enough to stop you mid-scroll.
The song at the centre of his argument is Sooraj Dooba Hai – the 2015 hit from Ranbir Kapoor’s Roy that became one of the decade’s most-streamed Bollywood tracks.
According to Amaal, speaking to Zoom, he received Rs 8 lakh for the song in total. Out of that, he had to pay his team and cover production costs. “Like for the song, Sooraj Dooba Hai, I got Rs 8 lakh, and I gave everything in that. I had to run my house, make this song. It would have taken Rs 10 lakh max. The song was made in Rs 8-10 lakh.”
A Rs 100 crore song – and the composer got Rs 75,000
As per Amaal’s conversation with Zoom, he estimates that Sooraj Dooba Hai has earned close to Rs 100 crore over twelve years. The entire team’s combined payout – including him – was Rs 15-20 lakh. The rest went to the label.
“After paying for everything, I get salary of Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh after doing one song. That is why my mother said – you don’t even do shows, you are leaving films, then how are you going to live?” he recalled.
In a separate interview, he put it even more directly: “The song earned Rs 60-70 crore for the label, and I got nothing except publishing rights, which are negligible – not even close to Rs 1 crore.”
He also pointed to the broader structural problem. According to Zoom, Mallik compared Bollywood to South Indian cinema, where composers can earn Rs 10-15 crore while retaining rights.
In Hindi cinema, he said, composers receive Rs 2-3 crore and give everything up. “Labels have become the real decision-makers,” he said. “They promote those artists because they bring revenue. Everyone works in a straight line. Nobody asks why things can’t be structured differently.”
The personal cost of speaking up
What makes Amaal’s candour particularly significant is what it has cost him professionally. As per reports, he was dropped from 40 to 45 films over the last five years for raising his voice – a consequence he has spoken about repeatedly and without bitterness.
On a personal note, he told Zoom: “Sixteen years later, I just bought a car for myself. I’ve never done anything for myself, it’s always been for people around me.”
He acknowledged that a royalty system has existed since 2020, pushed for largely by Javed Akhtar – but maintained that it has not moved the needle meaningfully for composers. For a man who has written 130-plus songs and built one of Bollywood’s most recognisable catalogues, the gap between cultural contribution and financial return remains as wide as ever. As Amaal put it to Zoom: “But God is kind.”