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Unni Menon  THRISSUR, MARCH 26. The K.J. Jesudas Audio and Visual Corporation Limited has said that the playback singer, Unni Menon, had overreacted to the issue of royalty for singing the songs of K.J. Jesudas.

Vinod Jesudas, who manages the Corporation, told The Hindu on Thursday that Mr. Menon had blown the entire episode up out of proportion. "We don't want to deter anyone from singing the songs of Jesudas,'' Mr. Vinod says.

Citing royalty issues, Mr. Vinod had demanded, on behalf of `Tharangini', the music label of the Corporation, the list of Jesudas' songs to be presented at a show by Mr. Menon in Chennai on February 14.

Mr. Vinod denies the allegation that he had behaved rudely to Mr. Menon's staff. My behaviour was polite, he claims. He says the Corporation has no intention of harming singers who make a living, presenting ganamelas.This is all I can say right now. We will convene a press conference next week to explain our stand, he says.

The Corporation, he says, has demanded that royalty be paid to the Indian Performance Rights Society IPRS, which in turn would distribute the amount among the music composer, lyricist and others who hold the copyright on the work.

Taking on Tharangini, Mr. Menon says that the letter he received from Mr. Vinod has no legal validity. Tharangini is not authorised to question a singer on copyright issues. Complaints, if any, should be forwarded through the IPRS, of which I am also a member, Mr. Menon adds.

Adding a new dimension to the issue, A. Venkitesh, manager of the IPRS, Chennai, says that `Tharangini' is not yet a member of the Society. The company had applied for membership recently. The application is being processed.

Appeal for compromise

Our Staff Reporter writes from Thiruvananthapuram:
The music director, M. Jayachandran, winner of the State film award for the best music direction for the year 2003, has called for a compromise on the part of all concerned to bring about a consensus on the royalty issue relating to film songs.

He was reacting to questions from presspersons on the controversy over the reported statement made by the singer Vinod Jesudas, that singers who rendered during a public performance, the songs originally sung by Jesudas should pay royalty to him.