Rebel poet Nazrul’s kin demands pact on changing iconic song’s tune be made public

Kolkata: Flagging “discrepancies” in the agreement forwarded to her on the use of a popular patriotic song by Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in a Bollywood film, his granddaughter Anindita Kazi on Monday demanded that the original pact be made public.

A controversy has erupted over AR Rahman’s rendition of the song ‘Karar oi louho kopat’ (Iron bars of a jail) in the 2023 war movie ‘Pippa’, with the litterateur’s family and singers expressing outrage over the “distortion” in rhythm and tunes.

The film which was released on an OTT platform recently is based on real-life events that happened during a battle in the 1971 India-Pakistan War, which led to the birth of Bangladesh.

Nazrul Islam, popularly known as the ‘rebel poet’, was born in 1899 in present-day Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district. His songs, known as ‘Nazrul geeti’, are probably second in terms of popularity after those of Rabindranath Tagore in Bengal. He later became the national poet of Bangladesh.

Anindita flagged many “discrepancies” in the claim by her brother Kazi Anirban about the signing of the agreement inked by her late mother Kalyani Kazi and the ‘Pippa’ makers in September 2021.

Anirban who signed the pact as a witness, however, rejected the charges.

In an interview, she said: ‘A copy of the agreement was forwarded to me and I have doubts about its authenticity for various reasons. It appears to be written on a blank paper, it was signed on September 4, 2021, by the witness while the date of agreement was September 8.’

In a recent Instagram post, the makers of the movie said the agreement permitted them to use the lyrics with a new composition but apologised if their interpretation had “hurt sentiments or caused unintended distress”.