Rishabh Shetty’s Kantara has become an industry hit in the Kannada film industry. The movie, which was made on a budget of 16 crore rupees, has earned about 400 crore rupees at the box office.
The highlight of the theatre viewing of this film, was Ajneesh composed Varaha Roopam, which has been making rounds on social media and reels since its release. However, if you search for the song on Spotify, you will not be able to find it.
Kantara official poster
The Controversy
A band named Thaikkudam Bridge has alleged that ‘Varaha Roopam’ has been plagiarised from their 2017 song, named Navarasam. When the song was released several listeners noted the similarities and took to social media to share their concerns.
Navarasam Poster
A district and session verdict has stopped the producer, music composer, director, and other music platforms from playing the song without the explicit permission of the band. The band had added a suit for an injunction which was filed by Supreme Court music attorney Satish Murthi, on behalf of the band.
Kantara released on Amazon Prime India on November 24, and fans took to social media to show their discontent with the absence of the song from the version being played on the platform.
#KantaraOnPrime Feel this bgm,🔥 but new version is 😡🤮 varaha roopam theatre version was materpeice, please try to add this song or remove the movie from Amazon prime.#varaharoopam pic.twitter.com/ImPuSIXYtK
— A Ajay🗯️ (@AlisonajayKumar) November 23, 2022
#VarahaRoopam Orginal Video Song Kavali, Theatre Recording Ayina Parledhu, Do Anyone Had it?#Kantara #KantaraOnPrime
— Movies For You 🇮🇳 (@Movies4u_Officl) November 24, 2022
@shetty_rishab please bring back #varaharoopam song, disappointed with the ott version!!! #KantaraOnPrime
This songs and the bgm hits very hard because of this we went for the theatres for many times now they not having this version Big disappointment💔#Kantara #KantaraMovie pic.twitter.com/uo2sLJuRKT— ChaRRRan_tarak (@Charan06740540) November 23, 2022
Audience would have waited for the original version of #VarahaRoopam than what's being forcefully fed due to the legal dispute of #HombaleFilms with #ThaikuddamBridge With such huge collections under the belt,could have handled this better & released little later.#KantaraOnPrime pic.twitter.com/QSaJKwPD2v
— Gururaj Aithal (@gururajaithal94) November 24, 2022
Dear @hombalefilms why you release this #Kantara on #AmazonPrime?You can take ur time and you can release the film after resolving the issue of #varaharoopam song,this version is not fitted,Plz stop this version streaming in #AmazonPrime,plz bring back #oldversionofvaraharoopam pic.twitter.com/KJS0GX1oeO
— kohlibhakt (@Pavancool06J) November 23, 2022
Pathbreaking movie
Directed by Rishab Shetty, the movie has gained tremendous popularity in India. In a time when the Hindi film industry is lacking original content, a powerful and regional, movie of this sort has made the debate of ‘local being universal’ much stronger.
The movie is based on the years-long culture of Bhoota Kola prevalent in the coastal part of Karnataka. The movie was conceptualised during the pandemic. It is written and directed by the lead actor of the movie Rishab Shetty, who earlier starred in the commercially acclaimed Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana.
