‘Awarapan 2’ lyricist Sayeed Quadri breaks silence on Pakistani singer Mustafa Zahid’s absence from album: ‘Nation should always come first’

With ‘Toh Phir Aao’ and ‘Tera Mera Rishta’, ‘Awarapan’ introduced Indian audiences to Pakistani singer Mustafa Zahid, whose soulful vocals became one of the film’s biggest highlights. Nearly two decades later, ‘Awarapan 2’ reimagines both tracks, with ‘Mustafa’ notably missing from the album. Veteran lyricist Sayeed Quadri has now opened up about the reason behind his absence.

Why Mustafa Zahid is missing from ‘Awarapan 2’

While both songs have been recreated for the sequel, Mustafa Zahid is absent from them, likely due to the long-standing restrictions on Pakistani artists working in Bollywood. The new version of ‘Tera Mera Rishta’ has instead been sung by Saaj Bhatt and Subodhh Sharma. Mustafa had earlier revealed he received over 25,000 fan messages asking if he would return for the sequel. When composer Amaal Mallik, who recreated ‘Toh Phir Aao’, publicly credited Mustafa for the original on social media, the singer responded, “Borders are dangerous but then so is love.” Reports suggested that Mustafa is now in talks with Vishesh Films to recreate ‘Tera Mera Rishta’, though the makers are yet to confirm this.

Sayeed Quadri reacts to Mustafa’s absence

In an interview with News18, Sayeed Quadri, who penned both ‘Toh Phir Aao’ and ‘Tera Mera Rishta’, addressed Mustafa’s exclusion from the ‘Awarapan 2’ album. He said, “Bahot saari cheeze hoti hai jo haalat and waqt ko dekh ke karni padhti hai. The most important thing is that nation should always come first. Desh sarvapari hai (There are many things that have to be done depending on the circumstances and the situation. The most important thing is that the nation should always come first. The country is above everything).”

Pritam is also absent as Amaal Mallik and Mithoon take over

Also missing from the sequel is composer Pritam, who had scored the music for the 2007 original, with Amaal Mallik and Mithoon now taking over. Addressing this, Sayeed said, “Writers usually don’t have a say in this matter. So, I can’t say why Pritam isn’t a part of Awarapan 2. This call was taken by the production house. But Mithoon and Amaal have recreated the songs with a lot of heart.”Meanwhile, Nitin Kakkar has replaced Mohit Suri as the director of ‘Awarapan 2’, which releases in theatres on August 14, 2026.