Hindi cinema lyricist Manoj Muntashir recently made headlines for a controversial Twitter video in which he called Mughal rulers Akbar, Humayun, and Jahangir “dacoits”. In the snippet shared on his social media account, he also said that India has been “brainwashed” into naming roads after them.

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The video grabbed eye balls and was slammed by many known names in the industry for being casteist and and Islamophobic.

Richa Chadha wrote, “Cringe. Bad poetry, unwatchable. Should drop the pen name too. Why profit off of something you so hate,” making a reference to Manoj’s pen name ‘Muntashir’. Director Neeraj Ghyawan also called the video, “Bigotry laced with casteism.” 

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Muntashir has written script for ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, the Indian version of British Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Apart from that, he also wrote several successful Hindi songs for films including “Galliyan”, “Tere Sang Yaara”, “Kaun Tujhe”, “Dil Meri Na Sune”, “Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahunga” and “Teri Mitti”.

He has frequently voiced concerns with regards to acknowledgments to song and script writers. His lyrics to “Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahunga”(2017), a song which registered more than four million views through unofficial versions prior to its official release, were originally compiled for his wife in 2001.

When he failed to receive acknowledgement for the song, he voiced that he didn’t “know why certain people can’t accept an age old fact that lyricists have an equal amount of contribution in making a song successful”.

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Following a nomination for the 2020 Filmfare award for best lyrics for the song ‘Teri Mitti’ from the 2019 film Kesari, he also tweeted his disappointment when the award went to someone else.

He has worked with artists like Anu Malik, Amaal Mallik, Himesh Reshammiya and Sonu Nigam.