Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar, a Dhrupad maestro, alleged that music composer and singer AR Rahman plagiarised a song from his family’s composition to compose ‘Veera Raja Veera’ song for his latest film Ponniyin Selvan – 2.
He claimed that the melody used by AR Rahman in the Veera song is very similar to a traditional Dhrupad composition by his father and uncle but not copyrighted. Dagar said, “He took the entire composition, and used it as he pleased. Just used it (pura composition hi le liya? Kisi bhi tarah istemaal, bas istemaal)”.
According to his students, an email was sent, and many days later, the Ustad and the Oscar-winning composer finally spoke over the phone for about 30 seconds after allegedly making Dagar wait for three minutes. They added that nothing came of the meeting between AR Rahman and Dagar.
They also stated that the lawyers from Mani Ratnam’s company Madras Talkies, which produced PS 1 and PS 2, have rejected the claim that ‘Veera Raja Veera’ is a copy of ‘Shiva Stuti’ and was composed by Narayana Panditacharyain in the 13th century. The notice also stated that Shiva Stuti has been performed several times and that the letter by Dagar is only a “fishing expedition for monetary gain and publicity”.
According to the Dagar’s student, the song was not originally credited to the Dagarvani tradition and was added to the description about 10 days later. They also stated that the song was incorrectly credited as ‘Dargavani’ in the video, despite the fact that there is no such tradition by that name.
In the above screenshot of the song, it can be seen that the Dagar family’s tradition Dagarvani has been misspelt as Dargavani.
Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar claimed that his father Ustad Faiyazuddin Dagar and uncle Ustad Zahiruddin Dagar, popularly known as the Junior Dagar Brothers, had composed the song on the raga Adana, which later came to be called ‘Shiva Stuti’.
The Dagar gharana, which spans 20 generations, is the most prominent Dhrupad family in Hindustani classical music. Its origins can be traced back to the 15th century.
Shivam Bhardwaj, a disciple of Dagar who has been credited in the supporting vocals category of the Ponniyin Selvan song, had reportedly informed AR Rahman’s team about the conversations that were happening before Dagar’s side sent an email informing about the plagiarism.
According to Arman Ali Dehlvi, another disciple of Dagar who has been credited in the Hindi version the Veera Raja Veera song, he recommended ‘Raag Adana’ and sang the composition in a Tarana form when Rahman asked for suggestions for a war like song, which apparently he liked.
He said that Rahman “immediately agreed” to acknowledge the Dagarvani tradition of Dhrupad but as evident, he didn’t do it appropriately.
Another disciple of Dagar, Anand was quoted saying that while Rahman’s song clocks millions of views and rupees, the original composition has been reduced to a footnote.
“Rahman excels in using ragas innovatively. So this brazen effort to copy-paste an entire bandish and pass it off as his doing is shocking. He’s just an arranger in this case.”, he was quoted saying.
Wasifuddin Dagar thought about making a video about the similarities between the two songs and posting it on Facebook at first but his family cautioned him to stay out of trouble saying cinema people are very powerful. He will be up against heavyweights in the South Indian film industry if he does that.
Listen to the original song here.
(With inputs from ThePrint)
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