PS 2 Controversy: A R Rahman Is Accused Of STEALING The Melody Of ‘Veera Vera’ By Delhi Dhrupad Singer (Details Inside)

A R Rahman's song ‘Veera Veera’, which is featured in Mani Ratnam's recently released movie Ponniyin Selvan 2, has a melody that was "lifted and sung in the same taandav style as my father and uncle sang their Shiva Stuti," according to Delhi-based dhrupad singer Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar. Madras Talkies' lawyers have refuted this claim.

Wasifuddin's copyright claim is "misconceived," according to a letter submitted on behalf of Madras Talkies, which disputed that ‘Veera Veera’ was in any way a copy of the Dagar Brothers' work. Additionally, they claimed that Wasifuddin is engaged in a "fishing expedition" and is doing so ostensibly "for financial gain & publicity."

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According to the producing company, the song is a "traditional composition written in the 13th century by Narayana Panditacharyain." Wasifuddin has asserted that his uncle Ustad Zahiruddin Dagar, who sung the tune for years with Wasifuddin's father, Ustad Faiyazuddin Dagar, composed it in the late-night raga Adaana. The pair was sometimes referred to as the Junior Dagar Brothers.

Wasifuddin claims that the Junior Dagar Brothers' 1978 live performance at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam as part of the Holland Festival is when the Shiva stuti was first captured on tape. The Royal Tropical Institute re-released the recording in 1996 as a pair of two CDs. It was first recorded in 1978 utilising magnetic tape audio recording and spools.

Wasifuddin, who routinely performs it at his performances, was one of the Dagar family's students who eventually received the piece, according to him.Wasifuddin said that practically the whole composition was "lifted" for the movie. “I wish Madras Talkies and Mr Rahman had taken the family’s permission. I would have never said no. But doing it like this, for massive commercial gains, is very problematic. The composition has just been lifted and sung in the same taandav style…. The only difference is the arrangement of the piece,” Wasifuddin, who sent a letter to Rahman, claimed.

Wasifuddin claims that Rahman spoke with him on the phone for just a minute. “All he said was that his production team will be in touch,” he said. Wasifuddin got a letter from Madras Talkies' attorneys alleging, among other things, that dhrupad was created by Swami Haridas and said, “no one person can claim monopoly over a style of singing”.

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Wasifuddin's pupil S Anand, the head of the publishing house Navayana, had informed him of the publication's release, saying, “Rahman has belatedly credited Dagarvani but the lawyers said it’s a Shiva stuti by Narayana Panditacharya. If you check online, this Shiva stuti is a Sanskrit chant, whereas the bandish by Junior Dagar Brothers is in Braj bhasha…”