When Anirudh Ravichander posted Leo’s song “Ordinary Person” on YouTube, he became embroiled in a plagiarism scandal. Because it sounded so much like the song “Where Are You?” by Belarusian singer Otnicka, some people accused the composer of plagiarising the work. The musician went so far as to provide a detailed response to the problem on Instagram.
Many people noted on YouTube that the Ordinary Person lyric video from the film Leo sounded a lot like the Peaky Blinders song “Where Are You?” composed by Otnicka and Duke Luke. One remark said, “Raise a copyright claim for that Indian movie for that unauthorized usage of where are you?” Another commented, “Please take legal action against him,” added another.
After seeing the remarks, Otnicka himself took notice and addressed the matter in an Instagram post. He said he will provide additional details when he has them and that the issue is being considered.
“Guys, thanks for hundreds of your messages about the movie ‘Leo’. I can see everything, but it’s physically impossible to answer everyone. The mail is overflowing with messages, Instagram, as well as thousands of comments on YouTube under the video “Where Are You”. The situation is very unclear… We are looking into this and a little later I will give an assessment of everything that is happening (sic). But I’m not accusing anyone yet. Important! One of the authors of “Otnicka – Where Are You” is also a music composer Artem Mikhaenkin – @mihaenkin Thank you” he mentioned in a statement.
Otnicka went so far as to say that he had no idea his music was featured in Leo. “The label does not own the copyright and cannot grant a licence without the artist’s knowledge,” he said in response to a fan comment. Nobody got in touch with the team (sic) or myself.”
Anirudh has not yet responded or made a remark on the situation.
