Criticism is for real: Badshah

Rapper Badshah says he gets a lot of hate messages and criticism from people, but he is used to them now.

Badshah's latest single "Heartless" from his album "ONE" has crossed 50 million views on YouTube. Many have liked it and some haven't.

"Criticism is for real. The amount of hate that I get is... just the fact that now, I am used to it. It doesn't make a difference, but it always breaks my heart. Even this video has got so many dislikes. I don't know who is disliking this video. I don't know why there is so much of hatred," Badshah told IANS here.

"I am deliberately spammed. Once I got messages in the same format. There were about 100 of them. It was a copy and paste thing from different accounts. I get spammed. I don't know why. Now I know, so it's okay. I am getting my money, I am entertaining people and I have a strong fan base as well," he added.

The over seven-minute long video involves a little girl, who is battling cancer and has a desire of meeting Badshah.

"The credit goes to Gurickk G Maan - the director of the video. He is a genius. He was the one who came up with this idea. We were a bit apprehensive in the beginning. Not a lot of people watch such a long video," said the "Tareefan" hitmaker.

But he was sure that once people start watching it, they will not be able to skip it.

"It's a story that needed to be told. Even Gurickk is (singer) Gurdas Maan's son. He knows what happens, how people perceive a lot of things. If celebs try to do something good, people think it is a publicity stunt and if they do without showing it, they don't get credit.

"He knows how I am. I go out of my way to help people, but I don't tell people. Goodness is not about beating your own drum. This (the video) was probably his way of showing my other side. I just loved the concept so, I didn't question him," he said.

Sometimes he shares posts on social media about helping ailing people.

"There is an organisation called Milap. While checking Facebook, I saw an ad. I had already donated certain amount of money to another organisation. I don't know if it went through or not, but my money was deducted from my account.

"So, on Milap's (page), there was a pic of this girl who was suffering from something related to liver. She needed a lot of money for the treatment. I donated certain amount of money.

"The girl is fine now. I keep doing these things. I put it up on Instagram. Why I posted it on Instagram was because I needed to tell people that you might want to do something like this.

"Some people even messaged to me saying that they can donate just Rs 500. It doesn't matter. You need to have a heart to help others and separate yourself from your money. So that was inspiring."

(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in)

--IANS

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