MUMBAI: Bollywood’s most senior and revered actor-filmmaker Dev Anand is in for a shock. Even as the veteran actor let the world know on Wednesday that the song was not anyone’s but his and his banner Navketan’s alone, Saregama (HMV), the music company that has the music rights for ” Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, had secretly and without informing Dev, sold the rights of the songs to Ramesh and Rohan Sippy.
Music composer Pritam Chakraborty has already started working on a version of “Dum Maro Dum”. Pritam will only retain the mythic opening guitar riff and the mukhda of the original RD Burman composition. The rest of the song will be entirely revamped for Rohan Sippy’s film.
Apurva Nagpal, the CEO of Saregama (HMV), confirms the fact that the track has been sold to the Sippys. “Yes, we sold the copyrights of ‘Dum Maro Dum’ to the Sippys, and no, we did not see the need to inform Mr Dev Anand about it. He might have an emotional connect with the song, but he has absolutely no legal rights over it,” he says.
The Sippys remained unavailable for comment. Interestingly, when Ram Gopal Varma had remade Ramesh Sippy’s “Sholay” the Sippys protested against what they saw as creative vandalism.
