A public war of words between the former members of popular folk-fusion band, Indian Ocean, escalated into a legal battle over royalty payments in August. On August 16, Susmit Sen, the band’s former lead guitarist, and Sunita Chakravarty, the wife of the deceased Asheem Chakravarty, filed a criminal complaint in Delhi against the band’s vocalist Rahul Ram and percussionist Amit Kilam. The charges filed by the former two include criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and cheating among others. This follows a case filed by Sen and Sunita in March 2023 with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In a statement on August 28, Ram and Kilam promised full cooperation with the police in any investigation and said, “filing of a criminal complaint on what is evidently a civil law issue seems to be an afterthought and to arm-twist us to agree to their illegal and unwarranted demands.” The NCLT has taken cognisance of the matter and will hear it on October 15. Why is Indian Ocean, one of the country's most well-known bands, engaged in a battle for royalty payments? Who are Indian Ocean? Indian Ocean was founded in 1990 by Sen and Asheem Chakravarty, with Ram joining in 1991 and Kilam in 1994. This line-up would prove to be the most recognisable in the band’s history. A lot of the songs comprised socio-political lyrics wrapped in varied musical styles resulting in wildly popular albums including Indian Ocean (1993), Desert Rain (1997) and Kandisa (2000) - all of them a significant part of the band's discography. The ‘Indian Ocean’ album alone sold 40,000 copies in its first year, a feat then unknown to any Indian band. The band also scored music for the films Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday (2005) and Anusha Rizvi’s Peepli Live (2010). Percussionist Asheem Chakravarty passed away in 2009 while on tour in Qatar, leaving behind his wife and a 13-year-old son. Four years later, in 2013, Sen left the band citing creative differences, as he was “not enjoying himself with the music anymore.” He has since embarked on his solo career, releasing the album ‘Depths of the Ocean’ in 2009 while still with Indian Ocean, and performing with his band, the Susmit Sen Chronicles in the years since. The band currently features vocalist Himanshu Joshi who joined in 2010, percussionist Tuheen Chakravarty and guitarist Nikhil Rao in 2013, in addition to Ram and Kilam. So what is the present disagreement about? The present dispute surrounds the royalties and dues entitled to each of the original four. Royalties in music are remunerative payments owed to the rights holders, such as singers, songwriters, producers and the music label, and must be paid every instance a song is played or performed. Upon Chakravarty’s demise in 2009, the surviving members informally agreed to give a percentage of the earnings from their gigs to support his family for the next few years to honour his invaluable contribution to their greatest hits. A formal contract was not drawn up for the payments, but it was understood that these would continue until Chakravarty's son reached employable age. Sen has claimed that this percentage was 7 per cent for the family. Similarly, when Sen left the band, he said there was an oral agreement that he would get 7.5 per cent as royalty/dues of the amount that the band makes. This, according to him, would include money from the gigs, any films that the new band composed for and any albums that the band would create in the future. Sen and Sunita Chakravarty first filed a case against the band with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in March 2023. He claims that the payments have not come in since 2020 for him, while Sunita hasn’t been paid since 2021. The current band, according to Sen, didn't pay citing Covid and lack of gigs. But the two claim they were not paid post Covid as well. According to Sen, the current members are earning out of the goodwill and reputation of the band he co-founded in 1990 with Asheem, and “toiled for years to make it stand on its feet”. He also said that Ram and Kilam were not around during initial days of struggle… “and were literally served the platform on a platter” by him. Sen and Sunita escalated the issue this August, citing the non-response of the band to the NCLT case. Ram and Kilam have since maintained that the matter is sub judice, and they are “surprised by a police complaint filed with what appears to be the same issue being considered by NCLT”. The police complaint also names Kandisa Music, the company formed by the four ex-bandmates, in which they are all shareholders. Sen remained the director of the company till 2018. Why is this royalty battle so contentious? The current legal battle raises questions about the extent of royalties owed to the past members of the band. * Sen and Asheem’s legacy to the band is extremely significant and a court will need to decide on the exact number/percentage that needs to be paid to the two. Determining the extent of contribution made by the two is a tricky matter: the band stopped assigning individual credits on its music after the first two albums. * A decision will also need to be taken about Sen and Sunita earning through the newer work that the band has made without the presence of Sen, including the film and theatre projects and songs that came without Sen. * Since official contracts were never drawn between the two parties, the matter could remain in court for years. * Conversely, there is the question of royalties owed by Sen who performs Indian Ocean songs with his band, Susmit Sen Chronicles, if Ram and Kilam are to pay him the royalties for the Indian Ocean band songs that they perform.
