By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 13, 2015 :

“Rangabati” song seems to have lured the filmmakers like never before. Famed film maker Nila Madhab Panda has used “Rangabati” song is his Hindi film “Kaun Kitney Paani Mein” slated to be relased on August 28.

Amidst the “Rangabati song controversy, critically acclaimed “I am Kalam” director Panda, however, has ensured to steer away from any dispute pertaining to the popular Rangabati song.

Rangabati was recently performed in MTV’s Coke Studio by composer Ram Sampat, and singers Sona Mahapatra and Rituraj Mohanty. These musicians have got a legal notice by the copyright holders of the original song, Lyricist Mitrabhanu Gauntia and Music director Prabhudutta Pradhan, with a demand of Rs one crore compensation for copyrights infringement.

“I have taken written permission from the lyricist and the music director of the song and since I belong to the same region of Odisha, I wanted to give a tribute to the land. I am very proud of bringing my own soil through this song to Hindi cinema, also I kept the basic rhythm and its essence.” Panda said in a statement.

The film carries the Rangabati song in Hindi, which features actors of “Rang De Basanti” fame Kunal Kapoor and Radhika Apte, along with Odishi dancer Saswat Joshi and Prakriti Mishra.

First Hindi film ever set the story in the background of western Odisha, Panda feels very proud to bring out his story in mainstream Hindi Cinema.

Starring Kunal Kapoor, Radhika Apte, Gulshan Grover and Saurabh Shukla, the film was screened recently as closing film of Jagaran film festival, with a standing ovation, and is slated to release on the 28th of August, 2015. The film has been produced by One Drop Foundation, Montreal.

Panda, however, hoped that the dispute between the singers and original composers of the song would get resolved amicably.