SPB's Son Files Takes Legal Action On 'Keedaa Cola' Team!

It is well-known that legendary playback singer, actor, producer and music composer SP Balasubramanyam passed away in 2020. The team of Tharun Bhascker's 'Keedaa Cola' recreated his voice using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deepfake technology for their movie. SPB's son SP Charan has now taken legal action on the movie's unit for using the legendary singer's voice without seeking permission from the family.

It is the music composer Vivek Sagar who admitted to this during an interview and Spotify page 'Permit Room' on 28th November 2023. He said, “This shocked us for two reasons, firstly because no consent or permission was taken from us to use/artificially mimic the legend's voice for commercial exploitation, secondly: if this trend of using AI technology for commercial exploitation in the entertainment industry continues without valid consent or permission then even the present and future singers who are a valuable resource to the music industry and whose livelihood depends on their only asset, their voice, will be at peril.”

The legal notice was sent on 18th January to the concerned party but he was reportedly appalled by their reaction. He stated, “We abstain from any devious methods to handle this matter and have nil desire to precipitate this issue through media trial and solely propose to take this issue up legally. My father's voice is not only his asset but also has a tremendous recall value, which is the reason, I believe, why the movie-makers wanted to use it – even if artificially recreated. Aside from this, we would like to register that we have huge respect and love for all our legendary singers, musicians and composers, both present and past, and we stand in solidarity in protecting the community from such unauthorized misuse/abuse of their late lamented skills.”