A division bench of the Delhi high court on Tuesday stayed till May 23, a single judge’s verdict passing interim order against music director AR Rahman in a copyright infringement suit filed by classical singer Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar, over the song composition “Veera Raja Veera” for Tamil movie Ponniyin Selvan 2 (PS2), asserting that the song has been in public domain since 2023.
A bench of justices C Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul, however, directed the music director to deposit ₹2 crore with the high court’s registry in compliance of single judge’s order within ten days.
“Given the nature of the dispute, we list for disposal in the supplementary list at 2:30pm on May 23. As the subject matter of the copyright has been in public domain since 2023, without intending expression on the merits of the rival cases of the parties, we stay the operation of the injunction granted till the next date of hearing. Issue notice on the stay application,” the court said in the order.
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It added, “As we find that the impugned order has also directed the appellant (AR Rahman) to pay a deposit of ₹2 crore, keeping in mind the law which has developed in grant of stay of money decree, we direct the appellant to deposit the amount with the registrar general of the court within ten days.”
The court passed the order in a plea filed by the music director against justice Prathiba M Singh’s April 25 order.
In her 117-page ruling, justice Singh had ruled that Rahman’s song “Veera Raja Veera” was “identical” to ‘Shiva Stuti’, a traditional Dhrupad composition by renowned Dagarvani musicians, the late Ustad Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar and Ustad Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar (popularly known as junior Dagar brothers).
She had directed Rahman and the filmmakers to correct the song credits to specifically acknowledge: “Composition based on Shiva Stuti by Late Ustad Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar and Late Ustad Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar.” Previously, credits had only mentioned the Dagarvani tradition rather than the specific artists.
Justice Singh had ruled that compositions in Hindustani classical music are entitled to protection under the Copyright Act as long as they are the composer’s original work.
“Every work or composition which is made in a particular genre or Raga, or style follows the basic principles of the said genre or Raga. It cannot, however, be said that due to the fact that they follow a particular discipline, there cannot be any originality in the same,” the judge concluded.