Originality is the main component in any form of creative work, which lets the creator stand apart from others. While one can be inspired by other creative works, the line is thin and the creator can be in trouble with copyright infringement rules. The most recent example is the popular song from Kantara – ‘Varaha Roopam’ – composed by Ajneesh Loknath.
The ‘Varaha roopam’ song has glaring similarities with ‘Navarasam’ song from a Kerala based music band Thaikkudam Bridge. The music band has also announced that it would be filing a lawsuit against the creative team of Kantara. In the backdrop of the controversy TNM looks at similar allegations of music copyright violations cases in India and the end result in each of these cases.
The music company Saregama sued Eros International in 2012 for the usage of a 11-seconds clip of ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ from the 1970s movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna. The clip was used in Imtiaz Ali directorial, Rockstar for which the music was composed by A R Rahman. The court issued a direction in 2012 to remove the clip from the movie in its all forms. As per a report by the Indian Institute of Patent and Trademark, Saregama went to court as the required permissions from the music company were not attained by the Eros International.
Watch the video of ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ from Rockstar:
Watch the video of ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ from Hare Krishna Hare Ram :
Music composer Ram Sampath had levelled allegations against the makers of the 2008 Hindi film Krazzy 4 claiming that the music of two tracks from the film – ‘Break Free’ and ‘Krazzy 4’ – were copied from a musical composition titled ‘The Thump’ set to tune by him for a Sony Ericsson advertisement. The Bombay High Court passed an order on April 10, 2008, allowing the producer of the film, Rakesh Roshan to reach an out-of-court settlement with Ram Sampath. According to a media report, Bombay HC had initially restrained Rakesh Roshan from releasing the multi-starrer film without deleting the plagiarised tracks. However, the court later allowed for a settlement to take place between both the parties. Ram Sampath had received a settlement of Rs 2 crore, and the film was released with the songs ‘Break Free’ and ‘Krazzy 4’ on April 11, 2008.
Watch the video of ‘The Thump’:
Watch the video of ‘Break Free’ from Krazzy 4:
Watch the video of ‘Krazzy 4’:
2019 Hindi film Made in China was caught in the midst of a copyright infringement row when music label Saregama India Ltd filed a case in Delhi High Court claiming that it held the copyrights to the track ‘Ke Odhni Odhu Odhu Ne Udi Jaye’ from the 1985 Gujarati film Meru Malan. Made in China, which featured actors Rajkummar Rao and Mouni Roy in the lead, had a track titled ‘Odhani’ which bore resemblance to the 1985 track.
Saregama sought an ad-interim injunction against Maddock films and wanted the latter to permanently restrain from releasing the track. Saregama also claimed that it held the copyright to the song and that it cannot be aired or recreated without permission from the label. The matter was settled in October 2019, ahead of the release of the film on October 25. According to Live Law, the matter was settled after Maddock Films acknowledged the rights of Saregama on the disputed song. "In view of the aforesaid settlement between the parties, the appeal is disposed of along with the pending application. The parties are directed to remain bound by the terms of the settlement agreement dated 15th October, 2019,” the court order stated.
Watch the video of ‘Odhani’ from Made in China:
Watch the video of ‘Ke Odhni Odhu Odhu Ne’ from Meru Malan:
Deepak Dev, who had composed music for the 2011 Malayalam film Urumi was also accused of plagiarism. Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt had filed a case against composer Deepak Dev, and the producers and distributors of Santosh Sivan directorial Urumi in the Delhi High Court. Loreena claimed that the track ‘Aaro Nee Aaro’ from the film uses hooks from the singer’s popular track ‘The Mummers’ Dance’. On September 21, 2011, Justice Manmohan Singh of Delhi High Court had passed an order on a copyright infringement claim preventing the makers of the film from releasing the soundtracks in English, Hindi, and Tamil, according to a Times of India report . Featuring an ensemble cast of actors including Prithviraj, Prabhu Deva, Arya, Genelia D'Souza, Nithya Menon, Jagathy Sreekumar and Vidya Balan, among others, Urumi was released in Hindi as Ek Yodha Shoorveer, in Tamil as Urumi: Padhinaintham Nootrandu Uraivaal, and in Telugu as Urumi.
However, the music in the Malayalam version of the film, did not feature in the terms of injunction ordered by the court since the track had already been released when the Malayalam movie hit the big screens on March 31, 2011.
Watch the video of Aaro Nee Aaro from Urumi:
Watch the video of The Mummers’ Dance by Loreena McKennitt:
In 2012, Saregama India Ltd sued Viacom 18 motion pictures over copyright infringement for the usage of words 'Meri Sapno Ki Rani' from the lyrics of a song from the movie Aaradhana in the film Special 26. However, the court gave a judgement in favour of the defendant saying that it's ‘minimal’ or ‘trifling’, as the words were used less than for seven seconds. In the order copy, the judge noticed that the actor did not render those words in tune. “These words could at best very remotely imitate the tune,” the verdict observed.
Watch the video of ‘Mere Sapno ki Rani’ from Aaradhana :
Director of Lahari Music, Lahari Velu had accused actor Rakshit Shetty’s home banner Paramvah Studios, and music composer Ajaneesh Loknath, of copyright violation in 2016, claiming that the song ‘ Hey, who are you’ from the Kannada film Kirik Party was similar to ‘Madhya Rathrili’ from the 1991 Kannada film Shanti Kranthi. When a non-bailable warrant was issued against Paramvah and Ajaneesh, Rakshit put out a series of tweets in February 2020, announcing that they had already won the copyright violation case filed by Lahari at the civil court and the High Court. Rakshit claimed that when the case was ongoing in courts at the time of release, the makers of Kirik Party had released the film without the song, and had included it later in the second week.
As per Times of India’s report, Rakshit Shetty had put out a tweet in June last year along with a selfie of him with Lahari Velu and Ajaneesh, dropping hints that the issue was resolved amicably. TNM could not verify the judgement in the case. The copy would be updated once this is verified.
One incident... many perspectives... and when the perspectives are shared and understood, we stand united as humans. Everything must meet at a juncture of love and mutual respect... for that’s the only true nature of growth. Within and without pic.twitter.com/1gBK5nUmW9
— Rakshit Shetty (@rakshitshetty) June 29, 2021
We decided to fight back for what we believed was right and not budge to these. Our film release was under risk but we stood our ground. Luckily we were able to cut the song at the last moment and release the film. With courts permission, we included the song second week..
— Rakshit Shetty (@rakshitshetty) February 26, 2020
Watch the video of ‘Hey Who Are You’ from Kirik Party: