Supreme Court asks A R Rahman to acknowledge Dagar family’s contribution to ‘Veera Raja Veera’ song

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked music composer A R Rahman to acknowledge the rendition and contribution of Dhrupad vocalist Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar in connection with the song Veera Raja Veera from the film Ponniyin Selvan II.

"There should be some acknowledgement. This is not a fight between professionals…have been traditional worshippers (of classical music)," a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said.

The court was hearing an appeal by Dagar against a September 2025 ruling of a division bench of the Delhi High Court. The High Court had set aside an earlier single-judge interim order recognising a prima facie case of copyright infringement.

The bench told Rehman's counsel, senior advocate A M Singhvi that some of these families, if they had not contributed to shastriya sangeet (classical music). "Do you think these modern singers would have survived in the market,'' the bench said, noting that there is a dispute as to authorship, but there is no dispute as to performer's rights.

The bench observed that the predecessors of the defendant were part of the Dagarwani tradition and that the originality of the tune was undisputed.

Singhvi contended that the composition had been performed publicly as early as 1991 by the Gundecha Brothers and on several other occasions without objection.

The court said that the parties could have resolved the issue amicably through mediation, in recognition of the shared heritage of the Dhrupad tradition.

The bench said, ''It is like this that stalwarts of the profession, in the 1950s and 1960s, suppose we acknowledge today, and we say today that what we have learned today is all coming from that generation."

"As a first performer, I want to be clear, and I understand what the bench is saying. As a first performer, let me take instructions and come back (to the court)," the counsel said.

The court opined that the dispute was one that ought ideally to have been resolved across the table in the larger interest of music. The bench said the matter was not one that ideally should have required adjudication on legal principles alone.

Singhvi said the objection surfaced only in relation to Rahman’s rendition and urged the bench to grant some time to take instructions in the matter.

The bench made it clear that while Dagar had made out a case on originality, the question of authorship would require independent evidence.

His claim was largely inferred from first performance and that the other side had pointed to earlier Khusro-era compositions, which require closer scrutiny, the bench said.

The court allowed the single-judge’s direction requiring Rahman to deposit Rs 2 crore pending disposal of the suit. The court fixed the matter for further hearing on February 20, 2026.

Dagar claimed Veera Raja Veera was copied from Shiva Stuti, a composition created by his father Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar and uncle Zahiruddin Dagar, known as the junior Dagar brothers.

Rahman has denied the allegation, contending that Shiva Stuti is part of the traditional Dhrupad repertoire in the public domain and that Veera Raja Veera is an original work composed with Western musical elements and layered orchestration.

The single-judge had directed that credit for the song be shared with the junior Dagar brothers and had ordered Rahman and the production entities to deposit Rs 2 crore with the registrar general of the high court. The division bench later reversed that direction, holding that no sufficient prima facie case of exclusive authorship had been made out at the interim stage.