‘Kantara’ makers accused of blatantly plagiarising Kerala-based band’s song

Mumbai: The Kannada film ‘Kantara’ continues to be in the news. After raking in impressive collections, the film is now gaining traction on the Internet because of an alleged claim of plagiarism over one of its tracks titled ‘Varaha Roopam’.

A Kerala-based band ‘Thaikkudam Bridge’ has accused the makers of the Kannada film of ripping off their song ‘Navarasam’. ‘Varaha Roopam’ features the same melody as that of ‘Navarasam’ and follows the same chord progression on guitars only difference being a prominent Nadaswaram in the former while ‘Navarasam’ has the same spectrum of notes played on carnatic violin.

The band expressed their displeasure on social media and released a statement with regards to the same. They also mentioned they’re mulling over taking a legal action against the team of ‘Kantara’ and its producers, Hombale Films to settle the dispute and infringement of their intellectual property.

Sharing the album cover of their song next to the poster of ‘Varaha Roopam’, they wrote in the caption, “From our and our partner’s standpoint, we would like our listeners to know that Thaikkudam Bridge is in no way or form affiliated with ‘Kantara’. The unavoidable similarities between our IP ‘Navarasam’ and ‘Varaha Roopam; in terms of audio is therefore a blatant infringement of copyright laws.”

They further mentioned, “From our standpoint the line between ‘Inspired’ and ‘Plagiarized’ 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”.

In the film, ‘Varaha Roopam’ comes at an important plot point during the dance performance of Buta Kola when the Guliga God possesses the body of one of the characters.

-IANS