Abhijeet Bhattacharya questions Neha Kakkar’s Rs 1 cr fee claim: ‘Where’s she now?’

He also remarked that Neha had become “too big, too soon.”

“She was just a young girl. Suddenly she became so big. It shouldn’t happen like that. Market yourself well, but not in this manner.”

‘Organisers are the real victims’

Abhijeet said that organisers often suffer because of the demands made by some singers who achieve overnight success. While he excluded Shreya Ghoshal from his criticism, he said others should learn from her.

“The organisers are the victims. Their homes have been looted. I’m not naming anyone, but people who become famous overnight, except Shreya, others should learn from her. There are one-song or ten-song wonders who are no longer around, yet they put organisers through so much.”

He further claimed that family members of some singers also become involved in making demands.

“Especially with such singers, the mother and the brother become part of the team. They want their names on the poster too. The mother also gets involved.”

According to Abhijeet, organisers are sometimes forced to bear unnecessary expenses.

“One organiser told me that even the musicians staying at a motel would be called to the singer’s hotel, running up bills worth lakhs. That’s another form of torture.”

He added that he always tries to ensure organisers do not incur losses.

“If an organiser is investing money, they shouldn’t suffer losses. Nowadays, people make endless demands. The entourage becomes bigger than the audience, and the organiser is the one who suffers.”

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Abhijeet says he doesn’t sing at weddings

During the same interview, Abhijeet said that he stays away from wedding performances despite the lucrative fees on offer. He said while many families spend heavily to book popular singers for weddings, those who want to hear him perform have to attend his concerts instead.

“People spend a lot of money on weddings. They call whichever singer charges more. But they can’t call me. They cannot see me singing at weddings. To hear me, they have to come to my concerts.”

The singer added that this exclusivity is one of the reasons his concerts continue to draw audiences.

“They come in groups—teams of 10 or 15 people—to attend my concerts.”

What was the Abhijeet-Neha Kakkar controversy?

During an episode of Superstar Singer 3 in 2024, he advised a young contestant not to “sell” his art by singing at weddings, saying an artist should not be bought with money. Neha Kakkar disagreed, arguing that there was nothing wrong with performing at weddings if artists were invited with love and respect, and that no work was beneath anyone.

The exchange escalated when Abhijeet said there was “a difference between singing for Rs 1 crore and rejecting Rs 1 crore,” while Neha maintained that every form of work deserved respect.