When Arijit Singh urged Salman Khan to let him retire with Sultan song after their controversial feud, latter replied, “Woh misunderstanding mere side se hui thi"

When Arijit Singh urged Salman Khan to let him retire with Sultan song after their controversial feud, latter replied, “Woh misunderstanding mere side se hui thi"

• Arijit Singh retires from playback singing, marking the end of an era in Bollywood.
• Salman Khan publicly ends feud with Arijit, calling it a misunderstanding
• Arijit will stop playback singing but continue making music

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Arijit Singh announcing his retirement from playback singing today adds a strange extra echo to a story Bollywood has been dragging around for a decade. The irony is hard to miss: one of the biggest voices of this era stepping back, on the same news cycle where an old, very public grudge finally gets buried.

For nearly a decade, the Salman Khan–Arijit Singh “fallout” has floated around Bollywood like a half-finished sentence, repeated so often that people started treating it like fact. Now, in a rare moment of clean closure, Salman has finally addressed it on Bigg Boss 19 and made it clear that there was no lasting bad blood, only a misunderstanding that spiralled.

The throwback begins at the 2014 Star Guild Awards. Arijit, fresh off the Tum Hi Ho wave and visibly exhausted after back-to-back performances, walked up to receive an award when host Salman cracked a quip: “So gaye the? (Were you sleeping?)” Arijit, smiling and caught off guard, replied, “Aap logon ne sula diya yaar (You guys made me fall asleep).” The exchange played like harmless banter on stage, but it reportedly didn’t land well behind the scenes, and that tiny moment became the seed of a much bigger story.

After that, gossip did what gossip does best: it found power, added drama, and wrote a script. For years, the industry and fans speculated that Arijit had upset Salman, and that the consequences showed up in music credits. Reports and chatter suggested Arijit’s versions of songs were being swapped out in films linked to Salman, with Sultan and the romantic track Jag Ghoomeya becoming the most talked-about example. Whether all the rumours were accurate or partly myth, the narrative stuck because it felt believable in an ecosystem where relationships often decide opportunities.

Also Read: Netizens are shocked after Arijit Singh announces retirement, suspect hacking, say, “worst post seen of 2026”

Then came 2016, the moment that made the whole saga painfully public. Arijit posted a long apology addressed to Salman, insisting he never meant disrespect and pleading for his version of the Sultan song to remain. The line everyone remembers is the one that sounded equal parts sincere and desperate: “I never insulted you… I tried so many times to apologize. Please don’t remove the song I sang for Sultan. Let me retire with that song in my library.” The post was later deleted, but by then the internet had already framed it as a singer begging a superstar for mercy.

Salman rewounded the tape and corrected the record. On Bigg Boss 19’s Weekend Ka Vaar, he admitted the misunderstanding was on him, not Arijit, and said they share a friendly equation. In his words: “Arijit aur main bahut achhe dost hai… woh misunderstanding mere side se huyi thi. Uske baad usne gaane bhi kiye mere liye. Tiger 3 mein kiya usne, aage Galwan…”

That “Galwan” mention is not just talk. Arijit has also sung the patriotic track Maatrubhoomi for Salman Khan’s upcoming film Battle of Galwan, a song that has been released recently and is already being positioned as an emotional, national-pride anthem.