Kantara Varaha Roopam Controversy: 10 Things To Know

The Kantara-Varaha Roopam controversy has now taken a drastic turn with the Court getting involved and directing the film's makers to stop screening the Varaha Roopam song in the film in the theatres or across OTT. For the unversed, Kantara is an action thriller film in the Kannada language, and apart from gaining massive popularity post its release, the film attracted a series of controversies as the makers were accused of plagiarism.

Popular music band 'Thaikkudam Bridge' has filed a complaint against the makers of Kantara alleging that the film's song Varaha Roopam, is an outright plagiarised version of their famous song Navarasam.

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Kantara Varaha Roopam controversy highlights

1. Kantara is an action-thriller Kannada film which released on September 30, 2022. The film stars actors Rishab Shetty and Sapthami Gowda in lead roles. Kantara is directed by Rishab Shetty himself and produced by Hombale Films.

2. The thriller film, which is based around a Kingdom set in 1847, garnered massive attention upon its release. It is not only doing well at the box office weeks after its release but has also gained a 9.2 rating on IMDb. The makers are also looking to release the flick on an OTT platform in the coming weeks.

3. Kantara has been dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu as well. It has now become the second highest-grosser in Kannada cinema of all time of all at the worldwide box office.

4. Apart from the praise, the film and its makers are currently in the middle of a controversy. Soon after release, the film gained criticism for plagiarism of a popular song Navarasam, a creation of the Kerala music band Thaikkudam Bridge. The band claimed that the song Varaha Roopam in Kantara was a sure shot copy of their song and it must be taken down.

5. Post the uproar, Kantara's makers maintained that the songs seemed similar because of their similar ragas but the band refused to take acknowledge the statement, alleging that the song has been plagiarism to a complete extent.

6. Thaikkudam Bridge soon after filed a lawsuit at the Principle District and Sessions Court in Kozhikode mentioning their claims.

7. On Friday, the Court directed the makers of Kantara to strictly refrain from using Varaha Roopam during the screening of the film in theatres or in the future across OTT.

8. The Court further ordered all streaming platforms to not use the song on their respective platforms without permission of the music band.

9. The band took to their social media to share the court's decision. "The Principle District and Sessions Judge, Kozhikode has injected the director, producer, music composer, and streaming platforms including YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, Jiosavan, Wynk Music and others to not play the song Varaha Roopam in Kantara without the permission of the band Thaikkudam Bridge," reads the band's statement.

10. The band's music piece Navarasam is a classical rock song that was created to tribute Kathakali, the famous art form of Kerala. The theme highlighted the art form's commercialisation. While Kantara's Varaha Roopam showcases the belief and worships of Bhoota Aradhane (a ritualistic folk dance) in Kannada, the music band pointed out fairly visible similarities and surfaced the infringement of copyright laws in terms of audio.