The curious case of stolen music in Bollywood; Whose score is it anyway?

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Bollywood, copy, internet, music, plagiarism

With more than 600 readers of this blog across the globe now, including countries like US, UK, Egypt, Phillipines, Indonesia and Pakistan, I feel truely humbled. I would also like to  thank my friends from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India – to whom I dedicated my last post.

Yesterday night, while coming back from work, my Samsung Galaxy Note®, played 3 songs in shuffled mode, which took me down the memory lane.

Let me elaborate! During early nineties, when internet was not yet available to the general public, We usually resorted to audio cassettes (Sony, TDK and later T series which made them quite affordable), whenever we really wanted to hear some music other than radio (No FM, mind it!) and television.(Only 2 channels – DD and DD Metro showing Chitrahaar on Wednesday and Fridays used to be quite a  luxury).

Cable TV came in 1991-1992 and so came the MTV. I remember watching the first few songs (which I heard in shuffled mode yesterday) on MTV – Michael Jacksons Black or white (which incidentally also showed an Indian girl doing bharat natyam with him), November rain by Guns & Roses and Pinball wizard;  the last song made me realize that I’ve already heard it somewhere. Of course! I said. Title song of the recently released movie “Jo Jeeta wohi Sikandar” starring Amir khan was a blatant lift from The who’s song, which I just heard. It irked me! 

So I somehow developed this habit of collecting the songs back in nineties, which were inspired or were straight lifts from western tunes/ other sources. Believe me, it was a tough job but I was quite gung ho buying lots and lots of cassettes, seeking help from friends, family and relatives et cetera. One of my friend had a music shop and he helped me a lot in pursuing this hobby! You may ask, what was the point? Well, One, It kinda made me as happy as a clam and Two, I could actually show off my knowledge and impress my friends (read secure brownie points from the fairer sex)!

And hell! Who could have imagined  that one day something Known as Internet and Google will arrive and  make me look like as someone who has lost his marbles!!

So here is a list of those few songs of Bollywood out of many, which to my utter disbelief, were actually lift offs from other sources. Please take a note of composers of these super hit songs. You can click on the song title to listen to it!

1. Om Shanti Om, (Karz, 1980, Directed by Subhash Ghai, Music was by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, giving successful numbers like, ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Dard-e-Dil’, and who went on to win Filmfare Best Music Director Award for this film. Born Garfield Blackman in Trinidad, Lord Shorty – so named in ironic reference to his 6ft 4in frame – began singing at the age of seven, and made his breakthrough in 1963 with the song Cloak And Dagger. He quickly became known as the most outrageous of calypsonians, in a profession renowned for carousing lifestyles. Though of African descent, he also played a significant role in bringing the sounds of Trinidad’s Indian community into the island’s musical mainstream. Laxmi- Pyare lifted off the composition in its entirety from the original  Om Shanti Om by Lord Shorty, which  became a major hit in India.
2. Mehbooba; Sholay is a 1975 block buster action-adventure film directed by  Ramesh Sippy. Artemios (Demis) Ventouris Roussos, a Greek singer and performer who had a string of international hit records as a solo performer in the 1960s and 1970s after having been a member of Aphrodite’s Child, a progressive rock group that also included the well renowned Vangeli.So our pancham da had exactly Say you love me  on his mind while singing the Mehbooba song.
3. Ek haseena thi Karz, 1980, Laxmikant-Pyarelal lifted this famous guitar tune which achieved a cult status from  ‘We as love’  from George Benson’s 1977 album, ‘Weekend in LA’, written by Ronnie Foste, his keyboard player. Karz, the movie itself was a lift without credit from the movie ‘The Reincarnation of Peter Proud’ (1975).
4. Jiya ho- Jiya ho; Jab pyar kissi se hota hai (1961) Shanker jaikishan getting inspired by Sarah Vaughan’s 1958 track, Broken Hearted Melody!
5. Koi yahan, aha naache-naache from the movie Disco Dancer (1982) Bappi da, Reham karo. You copied it from the song ‘Video killed the radio star‘ by Buggles. Hai na?
6. Gajab ka hai din– Anand milind ( QSQT 1988)  Inspired by Neil Diamond’s ‘Play me’– The duo, however,  modified the song in their own bollywood ishtyle!
7. Jab koi baat bigad jaaye, from the movie Jurm 1990. Music by Rajesh Roshan. The Kingston Trio’s version of five hundred miles will make you cringe in your seat.
8. Dhooma machale Dhoom 2004, Pritam quite cleverly amalgamated two catchy tunes and came up with this blockbuster song. Jesse Cook’s ‘Mario takes a walk’ and Egyptian singer Amr Diab’s Enta Ma Oltesh Leh, from the 2003 album, Allem Alby. As usual no credits to anyone.
9. Tu hi meri shab hai  from the movie Gangster 2006. Pritam, living up to the title of the movie, directly lifted this catchy hook from ‘Sacral Nirvana’ by Oliver Shanti & Friends.
10. Aao twist kare (Bhoot bangla: 1965, Directed by Mehmood and Music by R D Burman) From the track ‘Come lets twist again‘ by Chubby Checker.
11. Chura Liya Hai Tumne (Yaadon Ki Baraat) Music Director: R.D. Burman from- If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium by Walter Scharf. The list goes on and on and on…….and I have stopped this habit of actually building a library of plagiarised songs long since. Thank you Internet and Google, for depriving us of little pleasures in life. Remember one day, you will be held responsible for cerebral cortical atrophy, disuse atrophy, of human brain!

There have been instances of reverse plagiarism also. Few of our composers have actually filed lawsuits claiming themselves as the original artist. Well, Bappi da can pat his back, I am gonna get that cup of coffee and you enjoy the weekend!

© anshuman kaushal™ 2012. Copying as a whole or in parts is strictly prohibited.

Disclaimer: Author has provided the links of songs mentioned and respect the copyrights of original artists. Please buy original music only.