Music composer Anirudh is facing allegations of plagiarism. The music director is accused of illegally using a tune in Vijay’s latest film Leo. Anirudh allegedly copied the tune of ‘Where are you’ by Otnicka (Aliaksei Stanulevich), a Belarusian musician, and used it in the song titled ‘Ordinary Person.’ Otnicka had released ‘Where are you’ in 2020.
After several internet users pointed out the similarities in the tune on YouTube, Otnicka responded to the issue and said that he did not give permission to anybody to use his tune. He said that Sony Music, the record label company of Leo, used the tune without acquiring the copyrights.
When TNM reached out to Otnicka for a comment on the issue, he said, “We need to sort out this situation and see if this is a violation or not.”
Otnicka also took to Instagram and made a similar statement. “The situation is very unclear… We are looking into this and a little later I will give an assessment of everything that is happening. But I’m not accusing anyone yet,” he wrote. He added, “I can see everything, but its physically impossible to answer everyone. The mail is overflowing with messages, Instagram as well as thousands of comments on YouTube under the video ‘Where are you.”
TNM reached out to Anirudh for a comment but to no avail.
Read: Leo review: Vijay’s action thriller roars plenty but isn’t fully satisfying
Earlier too, Anirudh faced allegations of plagiarism for the song ‘Kalyana Vayasu’ from Kolamaavu Kokila. However, he had clarified that he legally acquired the rights for the beat.
Leo is directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and has a star studded cast including Vijay, Trisha, Mysskin, Sanjay Dutt, among others. The film is running in the theatres.