Ever since Kantara makers dropped ‘Varaha roopam’ from the music album, music fans have been floored by it. The song is one of the biggest selling points of one Kantara : one of the highest-grossing Kannada films this year. While the movie is shattering records at the box-office, controversies have also been following the film.
The similarities between B Ajaneesh Loknath composed ‘Varaha Roopam‘ and Kerala-based music band Thaikkudam Bridge’s ‘Navarasam’, sung by Vipin Lal, the title track of their super popular debut album is not just a coincidence, but super uncanny. Neither has the band been credited in the film’s album for their IP, nor their original composition credited. Thaikkudam Bridge recently took to Instagram and their social media handles to call out the evident plagiarism. They have also raised the pressing issue regarding musical copyright being unprotected.
The band also specifically mentioned on their social media posts that they will be taking legal course with regard to the copyright infringement as they were in no way approached to be associated with Kantara. The post read :
“The unavoidable similarities between our IP (intellectual property) Navarasam and Varaha Roopam in terms of audio is therefore a blatant infringement of copyright laws. From our standpoint, the line between ‘inspired’ and ‘plagiarised’ is distinct and indisputable and, therefore, we will be seeking legal action against the creative team responsible for this. There has been no acknowledgement of our rights over the content and the song is propagated as an ‘original’ piece of work by the movie’s creative team.”
View this post on Instagram
Now the plagiarism is not coincidence. For all that talk Kantara makers made on authenticity of culture, this for sure sticks out like a sore thumb because the original composition which it plagiarised from is alien to Tulu nadu. It is indeed a state based band’s composition and the profits are being now reaped by Kantara makers for something that originally didn’t creatively belong to them.
If you have more doubts, hear it yourself :
Navarasam by Thaikkudam Bridge :
Varaha Roopam by B. Ajaneesh Loknath
As soon as this valid allegation broke out, many listeners have also pointed that two other compositions in the Kantara album are also scissored without due credits to the original composers. The uncanny similarities between Kantara’s Singara Siriye to Marathi Song Apsara Ali and Rebel Song to Mundoor Madan theme music from Ayyapanum Koshiyum (2020) cannot be ignored.
This is not the first time we are hearing allegations against uncredited rip-offs in Indian musical scene. It is indeed disappointing that music directors are not even sparing recent blockbuster and contemporary tunes from illegal scissoring. If any, crediting the original composers for their IP would do no harm,if composing original songs hurt a little too much. In this case, its even more harmful as a a bigger production house is involved in preying the work of a state-based band. Let us wait and watch how the course of events would unfold once Thaikkudam Bridge takes the legal route.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
