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Aamir Khan rubbished allegations that he paid pittance to the singers of the much- hyped song Mahangayi Dayan in his home production, Peepli Live. “ As a registered production house, Aamir Khan Productions wanted to buy the rights of the song from the villagers of Badwahi. But when we approached the singers, they said it belonged to a mandali ( troupe),” the films spokesperson said.

“We decided to identify the troupe members to complete the legal paperwork and pay remuneration.

“ A few channels have been running the news as if there is a major issue over the singers payment. The troupe members have told us that the channels used their quotes out of context. This is a non- issue,” the spokesperson added.

Lyricist Gaya Prasad Prajapati said the troupe were paid only for performing the song and not for composing it. The number had been performed by many artistes, including Raghubeer Yadav.

“ We, the nine members of the troupe, were paid just Rs 1,100. Not a single rupee was paid to me for writing the song. The production team has invited us to Mumbai to be a part of a film show.

Then, I will try to raise the issue before them,” Prajapti, a teacher at Badwahi Middle School, said.

This process was started around a month- and- a- half ago. So, we paid the mandali representative only a signing amount at that time,” the spokesperson added.

The production house was surprised with some troupe members alleging that they were underpaid. “ We will pay them the rest of their remuneration once we are through with the legal paperwork,” the spokesperson said. The troupe performed at the films music launch on Tuesday.