‘PS2 song identical to Dagar’s Shiva Stuti’: Delhi HC says in interim ruling against AR Rahman
Justice Singh directed AR Rahman and the movie production company, Madras Talkies, to make corrections in song credits in Ponniyin Selvan 2 for Veera Raja Veera
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Friday passed an interim order against music director AR Rahman in a copyright infringement suit filed by Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar, a renowned classical singer, over the song composition “Veera Raja Veera” for Tamil movie Ponniyin Selvan 2 (PS2), concluding that the song was identical to ‘Shiva Stuti’, composed by Dagar’s father and uncle, with certain changes.
A bench of justice Prathiba M Singh directed Rahman and the movie production company Madras Talkies to make corrections in the song credits, specially by acknowledging the junior Dagar brothers — Nasir Zahiruddin and Nasir Faiyazuddin, taking note of the fact that the song was previously credited to the Dagarvani tradition.
The court also directed Rahman and the production company to deposit ₹2 crore with the court’s registry and the cost of ₹2 lakh to Dagars.
“This court holds that the impugned song is not merely based or inspired from the song composition of Shiva Stuti but is exact identical to the song composition with mere changes,” justice Singh said while pronouncing the verdict.
The court noted initially, the defendants (Rehman and the company) did not give any recognition to Dagar’s work. “When the plaintiff (Dagar) contacted defendant number 1, the acknowledgement was given albeit reluctantly,” the bench said.
“In place of the existing slide, a new slide will be made on all OTTs and online platforms in respect of the impugned song affecting the credits,” the high court said. The new one would say, “composition based on Shiva Stuti by late Ustad N Faiyazuddin Dagar and late Ustad Zahiruddin Dagar,” the court said.
A detailed copy of the judgment is to be released.
In his suit, Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar, a Padma Shri awardee, alleged that the song’s composition was copied from the song Shiva Stuti, composed by his father Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar and uncle Zahiruddin Dagar.
It reasoned that despite different lyrics, the song’s musical structure, rhythm, and beat closely resembled the original 'Shiva Stuti composition and the same was being utilised without due attribution.
In her verdict, justice Singh said that Hindustani classical music will be entitled to protection under the Copyright Act, as long as it is the composer’s original work. “So long as the composition in the Hindustani classical music is an original work of the composer, the same would be entitled to protection under the Copyright Act. The composer would also be entitled to exercise all rights under the rights,” the court ruled.
