'I said it in the wrong way': Vishal Dadlani apologises to Jasleen Royal over Coldplay concert comments; watch

In January 2025, Jasleen Royal’s opening performance for Coldplay in Mumbai drew huge backlash, both at the venue and later on the internet. Apart from many netizens, singer Vishal Dadlani was also among those who made controversial remarks about her performance.

A year after the performance, Dadlani came forward to publicly apologize to Royal on the sets of Indian Idol.The reconciliation happened on the set of the show, where Royal appeared to promote her recent track "Inaam" featuring rapper Badshah, who was also present.

It was then that Dadlani made a sweet gesture to mend the rift. This part of the show was edited out from the version that aired on television.The clip was shared by Jasleen Royal's manager, Yash Sanjeev Badwe, on Instagram. It was from an episode of Indian Idol where Royal was a guest and it captured a pivotal moment of reconciliation.

While interacting with rapper Badshah on stage, Vishal Dadlani seized the opportunity to address his past remarks.

"Main Jasleen ko bahut time se janta hun aur pichle saal hamari ek controversy ho gayi thi (referring to the Coldplay incident) ("I have known Jasleen for a very long time, and last year we had a controversy)," Dadlani said as he added "Maine kuch zyada bol diya ek masle mein aur mujhe bolna nahin chahiye tha kyunki I truly admire Jasleen’s compositions. As a composer, hamare paas zyada female composers nahin hain. Galti mujhse ye hui ki organisers ko main kahin blame kar raha tha lekin bola maine galat tareeke se. I want to publicly apologise to you. It must be done.( "I said too much about an issue and I shouldn't have said it because I truly admire Jasleen's compositions. As composers, we don't have many female composers. The mistake I made was that I was somewhere blaming the organisers, but I said it in the wrong way. I want to publicly apologise to you. It must be done.")

He further elaborated, "Female composers hamare paas yahaan nahin hain and I am the last person to discourage someone who does such good work. You really write beautiful songs... It was never my intention to diss you as an artiste. Agar wo hua hai mujhse, I genuinely want to apologise."

Jasleen Royal, visibly emotional, shared her feelings: “I always considered you as a mentor. I have called you with little-little things. So, it just felt like… I see you as a mentor and a friend, so it hurt me. But it’s okay, we have our own journeys. That’s really big of you.”

This heartfelt admission led to a warm hug between the two artists, signaling an end to their public disagreement.

What had happened?

The discord originated in January 2025, when Jasleen Royal performed as an opening act for the American band Coldplay in India. Her performance drew considerable backlash from the audience, and composer-singer Vishal Dadlani was among those who voiced strong criticism. Dadlani took to Instagram to express his disappointment, stating, "I'm really sorry, but when you put a basic-to-bad singer in front of a large crowd on a large stage, all you're doing is showing more people that the individual can't really sing, and that sadly, systems within labels in India aren't geared towards really promoting the best we have… I've just seen some clips, and my gosh... How embarrassing! For the Country, the artiste, the public, as well as 'the scene'." His blunt opinion, characteristic of his public persona, added fuel to the controversy.