Is ‘Varaha Roopam’ a copy? Or, is it Raga Thodi?

‘Varaha Roopam’ from ‘Kantara’ is composed by Ajaneesh B Lokesh. The song, however, is accused of having been lifted from an album made by Kerala’s Thaikkudam Bridge in 2015. ‘Navarasam’ is the title of the song that has allegedly been copied by the music director of ‘Kantara’.

But music lovers and those with a grounding in classical music are of the view that the ‘Navarasam’ team is wrong in making the accusation. A sessions court may have asked the makers of ‘Kantara’ not to play ‘Varaha Roopam’ in theatres and on streaming sites, but many feel that the court order is unfair. 

“The two songs are Raga Todi. You can hear Raga Todi from anyone, you will find where the similarities come from. Even I used to think Ajneesh copied Navarasam until I heard Raga Todi from guitar & veena,” says a Twitter user.

“It’s not a copy. The two songs are similar yes, but the ‘Kantara’ song is not a copy. The core of both the songs comes from Thodi Raga in Carnatic music and there are numerous videos online if you wanna check out,” says another Twitter user. 

Bombay Jayashri’s Raga Thodi rendition and TM Krishna’s similar rendition have been pointed at in defense of ‘Kantara’.