New Delhi: Rapper Krishna Kaul aka ‘KR$NA’ has alleged that the Indian Premier League (ILP) “plagiarised” his 2017 track titled ‘Dekh Kaun Aaya Wapas’ for its 2020 anthem song.
The IPL had launched its theme song named ‘Aayenge Hum Waapas‘ Sunday with a caption that said, “The greater the setback…The stronger the comeback.”
The music video for the song shows people from different parts of India getting ready to watch the tournament remotely.
The league is taking place in the United Arab Emirates this year due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in India, the original host. The first match will be held on 19 September between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
The greater the setback 😷
The stronger the comeback 💪
We can sum it up in 3 words:
🄰🄰🅈🄴🄽🄶🄴 🄷🅄🄼 🅆🄰🄿🄰🅂 🎶Watch #Dream11IPL starting Sept 19 on @DisneyPlusHS, @StarSportsIndia @Hotstarusa #Dream11IPL #AayengeHumWapas #StrongerTogether #Anthem pic.twitter.com/e2Iro79Kv6
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 6, 2020
On Monday, rapper KR$NA took to Twitter and said IPL had “plagiarised” his song and created the anthem “without credit or consent”.
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$NA (@realkrsna) September 7, 2020
KR$NA’s song was written and performed by him in 2017. It has garnered over 7.3 lakh views since it was first uploaded in March 2017.
The IPL’s theme song, meanwhile, has over 1.3 lakh views on YouTube and more than 3.6 lakh views on Twitter.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) media team, however, told ThePrint that it had not received any information regarding the plagiarism allegation.
Previous controversies concerning IPL
Organised by the BCCI, the IPL 2020 was first sponsored by Chinese phone manufacturing company Vivo. But it was removed as a sponsor following public outcry after the violent face-off between India and China along the border in Ladakh resulted in 20 Indian soldiers being killed on 15 June.
Fantasy sports gaming platform Dream11 is now the main sponsor for the T20 cricket tournament.
In late August, 13 personnel of the Chennai Super Kings team tested positive for Covid-19, delaying the scheduled release of the tournament. Ace Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina have also pulled out of the tournament.
The final match of the tournament is set to take place on 10 November, but the venue is yet undisclosed.
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