Music maestro and Oscar winning composer AR Rahman was accused of copyright infringement over a song rendered by him in Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan 2 in 2023. Classical singer Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar had sued Rahman over the composition of Veera Raja Veera song with an allegation that it was copied from the song Shiva Stuti composed by his father Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar.

In April this year, a single judge bench ruled in favour of the complainant and directed Rahman to give credit to the original composers and also fined him a sum of 2 Crores to be paid as compensation with addition to costs worth 2 lakhs. Rahman then appealed against this order and a division bench stayed this injunction but directed him and the producers of PS 2 to pay the sum of 2 Crores as compensation.

Now, the division bench of Delhi High Court on Wednesday set aside the single judge’s ruling. Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla delivered the order while hearing Rahman’s appeal against the previous single-judge ruling.The bench said that they will allow the appeal, adding, “We have authored concurrent opinions. We have set aside the impugned order by the single-judge on principle.” The HC did however, clarify that it had not yet examined the actual question of infringement at this stage.

AR Rahman is currently busy working on Ram Charan’s upcoming pan-India film Peddi. He is returning to Tollywood after nearly two decades with this film.