Bhubaneswar, April 19: Malaysian Odissi dancer Ramli Ibrahim and controversies seem to be best buddies. After controversies regarding his experiments in costume and style on earlier occasions, now comes a claim of plagiarism of part of the script of his latest production Ganjam Odissi.

On Sunday, Ramli and the artistes of Sutra Dance Theatre founded by him showcased Ganjam Odissi at Rabindra Mandap here. Shortly after the performance, scriptwriter Kedar Mishra posted on a social networking site that of the five sequences depicted in the show, an entire sequence was completely his script. He even claimed that the particular script was also showcased as a separate item earlier by Ibrahim.

Mishra wrote: "Is it expected from an internationally-acclaimed artiste like Ramli Ibrahim to be so dishonest and plagiarise (not plagiarism in fact, rather copy pasting) a script of mine in his latest production Ganjam Odissi??"

Mishra said that in the last quarter of Ganjam Odissi, the part on Yogini-Moksha was originally scripted by him for Gajendra Panda's dance group Tridhara and it was first presented in Bhubaneswar in October 2014 at Rabindra Mandap.

"Without taking my prior permission and without giving me any credit, the script has been inserted in Ganjam Odissi, which is unethical, illegal and a blatant violation of Indian Copyright Act, 1957," said Mishra.

Ibrahim could not be contacted. However, when asked about what they had to say about Mishra's claim, Panda, the dance composer for the production, said Mishra had indeed worked on the script of the Yogini part, but similarly other four parts of the production were also by other people. "It's a long ballet and it is not possible to mention everyone's name when their part begins. We have mentioned the names in the brochure for the production," Panda said.

However, in the brochure, Mishra's name has been mentioned only once, and that, too, among festival organisers that the Ganjam Odissi team had consulted.

"This is not fair. They have given the credit for script to art historian Dinanath Pathy. I am no festival organiser, but they should rather have mentioned me among the scriptwriters. If they do not agree to give me due credit, I will write to all the sponsors of the event, including the Indian Council for Culture Relations and other stakeholders of Ganjam Odissi. I will also think of taking legal action," said Mishra.