When A Breakthrough Moment Sparked Years Of Trouble For Arijit Singh
Arijit Singh could never in his wildest dreams have imagined that a career milestone would turn out to be a bittersweet moment that would haunt him for years.
By ETV Bharat Entertainment Team
Published : January 28, 2026 at 3:18 PM IST
|Updated : January 28, 2026 at 3:36 PM IST
Hyderabad: At the peak of his career, Arijit Singh announced his retirement from playback singing. His social media post left millions of fans heartbroken. Interestingly, just three days before the announcement, Maatrubhumi, a song he crooned for Salman Khan’s Battle of Galwan, was released.
With this song, Arijit’s decade-old wish seems to have come full circle. The National Award-winning singer had once expressed his desire to retire with a song he sang for Sultan, but with his fallout with Salman Khan, that desire remained unfulfilled. Years later, as he bows out of playback singing, his wish appears to be coming true. Not with the same film he had hoped for, but with a Salman Khan film nonetheless.
Arijit is among the few singers who have lent their voice to the Khan triumvirate comprising Salman, Aamir, and Shah Rukh. Whether it's Gerua, Tere Hawaale or Ruaan, Singh's soulful voice added oodles of charm to the songs featuring the Khans. While versatile singing elevated King Khan's romantic aura in more than a dozen hits, his discography with Aamir and Salman doesn’t boast the same numbers. For Aamir, it is understandable, given he does fewer films. With Salman, however, the reason lay elsewhere.
After the singing reality show Fame Gurukul, which he did not win, Arijit made his playback debut in 2011 with Phir Mohabbat from Murder 2. Two years later, Tum Hi Ho from Aashiqui 2 (2013) turned him into a household name. The song didn’t just announce the arrival of a new voice in the industry; it earned Arijit his first major Best Playback Singer award. Little did Arijit know that the celebratory milestone would turn out to be a bittersweet moment for him, as it planted the seeds of a fallout that would haunt him for years.
The moment of achievement became the starting point of the most talked-about controversy in Arijit's career. At the award ceremony in 2014, where Arijit walked up to receive the honour for Tum Hi Ho, Salman Khan was hosting the evening with Riteish Deshmukh. Salman is known for his on-stage quips, and the budding singer, who was visibly tired and bored, took a lighthearted dig at his hosting skills, which were reportedly perceived as disrespectful by the superstar.
The following years witnessed the rise and rise of Arijit. He became the poster boy for the small-town boy who made it big in Bollywood. While Singh was becoming the voice of many moods in the industry, his widely reported feud with Salman kept him at bay when it came to films starring Bhaijaan. The tension also led to Arijit's Jag Ghoomeya being removed from Sultan.
From public apologies shared on social media to reports of Mika Singh stepping in as a mediator, much water has flowed under the bridge since then. Years later, Salman also confirmed on Bigg Boss 19 that the misunderstanding was on his part, and the two are now on good terms. Since then, Arijit has sung for Salman films like Tiger 3 and now Battle of Galwan.
While many assume Maatrubhumi might be Arijit’s final outing as a playback singer, the singer has hinted that a few prior commitments are yet to see the light of day. It will be interesting to see which film and which star ultimately carries the last song credited to Arijit Singh.
For now, fans of both Salman and Arijit have lapped up Maatrubhumi with open arms. The song has amassed nearly 18 million views on YouTube alone within just three days of its release.
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