Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Premium
Why Nagarjuna-starrer Hello Brother’s composer Koti Saluri was left ‘anguished’ by Adivi Sesh’s Dacoit
The Dacoit team's decision to revive a beloved 1994 Telugu chartbuster delighted audiences, but original composer Koti Saluri only found out about the remix when everyone else did.
Supriya Yarlagadda, producer of Dacoit and head of Annapurna Studios.
When the teaser for the upcoming Telugu film Dacoit dropped last December, the moment that caught everyone’s attention was not a chase sequence or a piece of dialogue. It was a song from 1994 that audiences had not heard in years, suddenly back and louder than ever. The remix of “Kannepettaro Kannu Kottaro,” a chartbuster from Nagarjuna’s Hello Brother, turned the teaser into a talking point across Telugu social media almost overnight. What nobody outside the production knew at the time was that the man who originally composed the song had not been told about any of it.
Koti Saluri, one half of the celebrated composer duo Raj-Koti, expressed his unhappiness about the team failing to inform him of the remix in an earlier event, saying it was basic courtesy to inform the original composer when recreating a song and that it did not happen.
Actor Adivi Sesh recently revealed in a press meet that the idea to use the “Kannepettaro” remix in the teaser was suggested by producer Supriya Yarlagadda.
The remix, released under Aditya Music on December 18, 2025, was rearranged by composer Gyaani and retained the original vocals of S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and K.S. Chithra from the 1994 recording. Audiences praised it widely, and many pointed to the song as a key reason the teaser worked as well as it did.
Despite the warm public reception, the episode left Koti Saluri with a quiet sense of being sidelined. His concern was not about legal rights or money. It was about something more basic: being told.
Koti said that informing the original composer when recreating a song was basic courtesy and that it had not happened in this case. His disappointment, expressed publicly, put the spotlight on a gap that often exists between legal clearance and human acknowledgment in the film industry.
Story continues below this ad
Producer Supriya Yarlagadda acknowledged that Koti’s anguish was valid and explained that no communication from the audio company had left him with that impression. She said, “We went to his house to discuss the matter personally, and both of them ended up laughing about the whole process.”
Supriya clarified that the production had obtained all the necessary NOCs and permissions from the audio company, but that it was the audio company’s responsibility to inform Koti, which did not happen, resulting in the mix up.
Advertisement
Loading Recommendations...
Live Blog