On April 25 Friday the Delhi High Court passed an interim order against Oscar-winning musician AR Rahman in a case filed by popular classical vocalist Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar. The case revolves around the popular song composition Veera Raja Veera from Tamil movie Ponniyin Selvan 2 (PS2) alleging that it was copied from Shiva Stutti a song by Dagars later father and uncle. Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that the song is exactly similar to Shiva Stutis song excluding few minor modifications. Moreover the court stated that the songs rhythm modifications structure have a striking resemblance to the original thus pronouncing it as copyright infringement. Delhi High Courts verdict on AR Rahman-Dagar copyright case The court has asked AR Rahman and the films production company Madras Talkies to deposit Rs 2 crore with the court registry and Rs 2 lakh to Dagar. Justice Singh announced while pronouncing the verdict 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. The court noted that the defendants (Rehman and the company) did not give any credits to Dagar’s work and said When the plaintiff (Dagar) contacted defendant number 1 the acknowledgement was given albeit reluctantly. 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 high court said. For the unversed AR Rahman and his team at Madras Talkies denied all these claims. They believe that Veera Raja Veera is based on a 13th-century composition by Narayana Panditacharya. Rahmans lawyer states that Dagars accusations are driven by a desire for monetary purposes.