Controversy's favourite child: 5 times Sonu Nigam grabbed headlines for the WRONG reasons

Sonu Nigam's songs have been soothing and powerful, to say the least. He has been at his A-game for years and there's no doubt about it. 

But along with his love for music and his brilliant numbers, there's something else which has kept him in news. Controversies. Time and again Sonu has been mired in controversies and grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. Here are 5 such instances -

The Azaan tweets:
Sonu who stays in the suburbs was allegedly feeling disturbed by the regular azaan that would be played on loudspeakers at the nearby mosque, disrupting his sleep. So he started tweeting about it and although the singer wanted to address the issue of noise pollution and wanted a ban on loudspeakers, his tweets were framed in a way that it seemed very disrespectful to the Muslim community. It seemed as if he has insulted the azaan which is the Muslims' call for prayer. He compared it to 'cacophony' and then there was a fatwa issued against him. A maulvi announced an award of Rs 10 lakh to whoever shaves Sonu's head and puts a garland of shoes around him. Guess what Sonu did next - He himself got his head shaved and asked the cleric to pay the money. The maulvi has given several reasons as to why he wouldn't be paying the sum and the saga continues...

The Radhe Maa row:
The spiritual guru Radhe Maa was accused in several cases including dowry allegations last year. Along with that, she also received a lot of flak from people because of a certain dress she wore. There were skeletons coming out of her closet literally. But there was Sonu making his statement and support for her, loud and clear. He made a rather stupid comparison and wrote on Twitter - "Just my 2 pence. Kaali Maa is depicted in lesser clothes than Radhe Maa. Interesting that this country wants to sue a woman for her clothes." And there was no end to the fury that followed as FIRs were filed against him for 'hurting religious sentiments'

His gig mid-air:
The same Sonu who complained of the azaan disturbing his sleep decided to do a gig mid-air. Yes, a video had gone viral on social media where Sonu could be seen singing while on a flight. That too, by using the flight's announcement system. Because the in-flight team allowed such a nuisance, they were suspended from duty. We never heard Sonu discussing that anymore. 

His fight against a music label:
Even in his music career, he has courted controversies. 4 years back, he announced his retirement from music, after a much public fallout and tussle with a leading music label. His tweets didn't stop about that incident as well. There was something in the contract which led to the fallout but they patched up again two years later. 

Taking a dig at Karan Johar:
Karan Johar and Sonu Nigam have had a fascinating bonding over the last two decades. Sonu at one point was their go-to singer, especially since his voice suited Karan's lead in most of his films - Shah Rukh Khan. But Ae Dil Hai Mushkil had one scene where Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma's characters can be seen making fun of Mohammad Rafi. This created a huge furore among the Rafi fanatics and Sonu took the baton and slammed Karan in one of his interview. "If you can listen to the same joke about your parents then we are wrong. If your blood boils that how can someone say something like this about my parents, then hum sahi hain beta," he had said. Karan, known to not staying put, responded back taking a dig at Sonu as well. He said, "Filmmakers making irresponsible remarks at events.. Singers reveling in self importance… Press releases sent to mask insecurities! Ufff…" Sonu retaliated with a tweet, "So it’s all about loving your family, and disrespecting others’!! And this is not reveling in Self Importance. UFFFFFFF…"