The Indian Premier League has found itself in a plagiarism controversy after a hip-hop artist took to Twitter to claim the IPL 2020 theme song was similar to one of his works.
The artist, Krishna Kaul, took to Twitter earlier this week to claim the IPL theme song titled Aayenge Hum Wapas was “plagiarised” from his song Dekh Kaun Aaya Waapas. The claim, however, was emphatically turned down by Pranav Ajayrao Malpe, the composer of the IPL theme song.
“I was shocked,” Malpe told ANI. “My composition is original and has not been inspired by any other artist’s work. It has been created by me and my team through our hard work and efforts.”
Hey guys, @IPL has plagiarised my song “Dekh Kaun Aaya Waapas” and created “Aayenge Hum Wapas” as this years anthem without credit or consent. I request my fellow artists and friends on twitter to RT this tweet for awareness, they can not get away with this. @DisneyPlusHS https://t.co/GDNFeyhXR5
— KR$NA (@realkrsna) September 7, 2020
Malpe also, according to the ANI report, produced a certificate from the Music Composers Association of India, which stated that the song was an original composition.
“I would like to share with you a certificate from the Music Composers Association of India (MCAI). which is based on the findings of four well-known music composers who compared the two songs. The certificate clearly clarifies there is no similarity between the songs.”
This is scary! I just got word that ‘Music Composer’s Association of India’ has suggested that plagiarisation of Hip Hop songs is permissible in their opinion because all hip hop songs sound the same. Shabaash! Tumhara khoon khoon, hamara khoon paani! #IPLanthemcopied
— KR$NA (@realkrsna) September 9, 2020
Kaul, however, seemed to dispute MCAI’s validation of Malpe, taking to Twitter again to say: “This is scary! I just got word that ‘Music Composer’s Association of India’ has suggested that plagiarisation of Hip Hop songs is permissible in their opinion because all hip hop songs sound the same. Shabaash! Tumhara khoon khoon, hamara khoon paani! #IPLanthemcopied”
IPL 2020 is set to begin on September 19 with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on three-time winners Chennai Super Kings.
