While ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ continues to break box office records, the film has run into serious legal trouble. ‘Tridev’ filmmaker Rajiv Rai has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against director Aditya Dhar‘s production house over the unauthorized use of the iconic 1989 song ‘Oye Oye’, reimagined in the blockbuster as ‘Rang De Lal’.Dhurandhar 2 Review
Rajiv Rai on the use of ‘Oye Oye’ in Aditya Dhar’s ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’
The dispute revolves around the rights to the ‘Oye Oye’ song, co-composed by Kalyanji-Anandji and Viju Shah, with lyrics penned by Anand Bakshi and vocals by Amit Kumar and Sapna Mukherjee, originally featured in Rajiv Rai’s 1989 film ‘Tridev’. Rai contends that composer Shashwat Sachdev‘s reimagining of the track for ‘Dhurandhar 2’ amounts to copyright infringement, as the original music contracts from that era contained no provisions for remixes.
In an interview with Mid-Day, Rajiv Rai said, “After I saw the movie and my song in it, I was in shock. I filed (the case) now because it takes time to move the court.”While he acknowledged that ‘Tridev’s music was sold to the late Gulshan Kumar and T-Series in the late 1980s, Rai argued that the old contract left no room for such liberties.He added, “In it, there was no (mention of) remixes or that one could take a song and put it in another film. That phenomenon didn’t exist then. I’m sure when you sign that piece of paper, you don’t sign away your copyright, IP, or creative rights. I have not created the song for some guy to mutilate it.”
Rajiv Rai says he has not given any permission for the use of the song
Rajiv Rai made no effort to hide his frustration over the way the track was reinterpreted. In the same conversation, he said, “They have mutilated ‘Oye Oye’, and the young producer (Dhar) feigns innocence. They have crossed the line. Where is their conscience? My lawyer said (the lawsuit) becomes too ambiguous (because of the contract). But where have I given the permission to mutilate my song?”See More: ‘Dhurandhar 2’ box office collection Day 22: Ranveer Singh, Rakesh Bedi starrer completes week 3 with Rs 110.60 crore haul; falls short of THIS ‘Dhurandhar’ record
All about court the hearing
In the first hearing on April 9, the Delhi High Court referred all parties to mediation, scheduled for April 22, and deferred the next hearing to May 6. No interim injunction was granted over the song in the film. As per the reports, the court asked the defendants to maintain a record of accounts, noting that the dispute was financial in nature.
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More about ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’
Directed by Aditya Dhar, the film has been raking in massive numbers at the box office. Starring Ranveer Singh, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Arjun Rampal, R Madhavan, and Sanjay Dutt, it was released in cinemas on March 19, 2026. The espionage thriller is set to cross the Rs 1700 crore mark at the global box office soon.
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