Zayn Malik has come under fire for covering a Bollywood classic. The Bradford-born pop star took on ‘Teri Deewani’, originally by Bollywood icon Kailash Kher. The cover was badly received by critics. Writing for Hamari Web, one journalist said “Hoping to venture into Bollywood and qawalis, Malik could use a little more practice. Also, Kailash Kher – we apologise on behalf of Malik”. Writing for The Express Tribune, another writer described Malik’s cover as “a disaster”.

As NME reports, Malik was originally hopeful about the song. “It’s one of the first songs I’ve sung in full Hindi, so it’s going to be cool to see what the response to that is”, the singer said. Malik recently shared a lot of snippets teasing new music in 2018. The singer shared Instagram videos of himself playing piano, strumming on guitars, and singing his heart out. As spotted by NME, Malik is teaming up with Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman for new music. “There’s definitely a lot of Urdu; some nice qawwali sounds. There might even be some bhangra vibes. I have worked with AR Rahman on one song”, Malik announced.