Kantara on OTT: 'Justice Prevails,' says Thaikkudam Bridge amid the Varaha Roopam hysteria

The exclusion of the original rendition of the Varaha Roopam song from the OTT version of Kantara has displeased fans. Hours after the film debuted on Amazon Prime Video on November 24, social media was abuzz with netizens venting their annoyance over the matter as they unanimously reckoned that the new version of the track just doesn't cut out. 

"Varaha roopam theatre version was masterpeice, please try to add this song or remove the movie from Amazon prime," said a user, echoing the thoughts and sentiments of many others, as a barrage of memes ensued in the same vein.

However, despite the fierce objection from the audience, Thaikkuddam Bridge has chosen to see the developments through a lens of vindication. The band, in their most recent post on Instagram, referred to the fact that Amazon Prime Video has, quite indeed, removed the plagiarized version of their song 'Navarasam' from Kantara and spoke of the moral victory of this crucial outcome. 'Justice Prevails,' wrote Thaikkudam Bridge in the post to reveal the strong emotions that they had seemingly withheld for the past weeks, before going to thank their legal team, fellow musicians, fans, and the media for the 'whole hearted support to fight for their rights.'

For those unversed, team Kantara and the Kerala-based band have been entangled in a copyright suit with the latter accusing the makers of the Kannada film of blatantly lifting the tune of their popular track Navarasam. Varaha Roopam is starkly similar to Navarasam, alleged Thaikkudam Bridge a few weeks ago and although Rishab Shetty & Co. denied that their version was plagiarized, the band took the legal route with a copyright infringement claim. A few weeks later, the Kozhikode court ruled things in favour of Thaikkudam Bridge, thus barring team Kantara from using Varaha Roopam on YouTube and other streaming platforms like Spotify, Amazon Music, and Wynk. 

Despite the court orders, many reports suggested that Hombale Films, the producers of Kantara, were engaged in off-the-record negotiations with Thaikkudam Bridge and that they were in place only so that the film arrives on OTT without any legal baggage. The discussions were also meant to justify the delay in releasing Kantara on Amazon Prime and but, much to the shock and dismay of the admirers of the film, the digital version carried a whole new rendition of Varaha Roopam when it released on November 24. The makers, however, are yet to respond to the plagiarism charges or the current outcry on social media. More updates to follow soon.