Life of Pi (LoP) music composer Mychael Danna, 54, has shrugged allegations that Pi’s lullaby in the movie has been plagiarised.
Danna, a top Hollywood composer, has spoken against claims that the Oscar-nominated song, written and sung by noted Carnatic music vocalist Bombay
Jayashri, is a word-by-word translation of a renowned lullaby in Malayalam.
“I could tell you that I was sitting there with her while we wrote it together. Even Ang Lee had inputs on the words. So I’m not sure (if the allegations are true).
Lullabies across the world have similar imagery and similar words. My opinion is, it is original,” Danna told us over the phone from Canada.
Danna is nominated for two Oscars this year, in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories, for LoP, and has already won a Golden Globe for best score for the film.
He has composed music for films such as Moneyball, The Time Traveler’s Wife and 500 Days of Summer and Little Miss Sunshine.
Not many know he has an Indian-origin wife, Aparna, and two kids with Indian names, Arjun and Keshav.