It took the intervention of Vijay Kirgandur, who had bankrolled the magnum opus ‘KGF’, to end a four-year legal tussle between Kannada actor-director Rakshit Shetty and Lahari Velu, director of Lahari Music.
Velu had accused Rakshit’s banner Paramvah Studios of copyright violation when the film ‘Kirik Party’ was due for release on December 29, 2016.
Velu had claimed the song ‘Hey who are you’ had lifted interludes from ‘Madhya rathrili,’ a song from V Ravichandran’s ‘Shanthi Kranthi’ (1991), the rights for which Lahari owned.
The company then filed a copyright violation complaint against Paramvah Studios and the film’s music director Ajaneesh Lokanath.
“When perspectives are shared and understood, we stand united as humans,” Rakshit posted on Twitter and shared a selfie with Velu and Ajaneesh on Wednesday.
Vijay, a close friend of Velu, helped them arrive at a compromise.
“I have been in this business for 45 years and I am the last person to create unnecessary trouble. It’s not a matter of money but ethics,” Velu told Showtime.
Youngsters making films must know the legalities involved, he says. “I told Rakshit that both of us started without godfathers. I don’t want to be an obstacle in his journey,” he said. Lahari was trolled by fans when the controversy first broke out.
Rakshit dismissed the plagiarism charge outright. “We haven’t copied even one note from the song. Hamsalekha and Ravichandran have inspired me since childhood. Because of that, we dedicated the song to them. Both of us understood each other’s viewpoints,” he said.
Timeline
2016: A day before the premier show of ‘Kirik Party’, Lahari Music gets a court stay, alleging copyright violation.
‘Kirik Party’ is released without the song. Two weeks later, the team is allowed to reintroduce the song after depositing Rs 10 lakh in court. Rakshit says he won the case, but didn’t make the news public.
In February 2020, the court summons Rakshit and music director Ajaneesh again. They fail to show up and a non-bailable warrant is issued against them.
Rakshit says neither his lawyers nor his office received any letter about the second case.
On Wednesday, Rakshit, Ajaneesh and Lahari met and called a truce.