Atif Aslam’s version of “Kinna Sona” is no longer available on YouTube. (Photo: Instagram/atifaslam).

Two days after releasing Atif Aslam’s version of “Kinna Sona”, T-Series on Wednesday removed the video from their YouTube channel and apologised to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. The original romantic number first featured in 2019 movie Marjaavaan, which starred Sidharth Malhotra and Tara Sutaria in the lead roles.

#TakeDownAtifAslamSong started trending on Twitter after the music label put up the popular Pakistani singer’s version of “Kinna Sona”, despite Federation of Western India Cine Employees’ (FWICE) demand of banning Pakistani artistes in India.

The issue also caught the attention of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. MNS Cinema Wing president Ameya Khopkar tweeted, “WARNING TO TSERIES Take down Pakistani singer Atif-Aslam song from your TSeries youtube channel immediately else we will take a major action against @TSeries. #TakeDownAtifAslamSong @itsbhushankumar @mnsadhikrut @rajupatilmanase.”

Following the warning by MNS, T-Series issued an apology.

In the apology letter, T-Series stated, “It has been brought to our notice that the said song has been sung by Atif Aslam and this song was put up on the YouTube channel of T-Series by one of our employees from the promotion team. He was unaware of his action and erred while putting up the song.”

The music label added, “We condemn our mistake and apologise for the same. We assure you that henceforth we will neither release, nor promote the song on any platform of T-Series. Meanwhile, we are removing the said song from our YouTube channel.”

“We also assure you that henceforth we will not be releasing or promoting work by any Pakistani artistes,” the letter from the record label concluded.