GAJENDRA PURI GOSWAMI
A Brief Catalogue Of
OBTRUSIVE
OBTRUSIVE
PLAGIARISM
PLAGIARISM
In Bollywood Music
What’s the first word that comes to your mind when we think about Bollywood music? We bet it’s not originality. Music
directors and composers in the hindi film industry are infamous for ripping off riffs from musicians around the world in
the name of artistic inspiration. The irony is that the same artists while judging a singing reality or talent hunt show insist
participants to focus on originality. Yet, when it comes to their own work they don’t even make an effort to mask their
plagiarism. So, in order to celebrate, shame, and laugh at this typical phenomena in bollywood music, we decided to dig up
our catalogue of hindi movie songs that are indiscreet and blatant rip offs of some famous international hits. Here they go.
1. Kaho Na Kaho, Murder (2002) 2. Didi, Airlift (2016)
3. Ya Ali, Gangster (2006) 4. Sachi Hai Ye Kahani, Kabhi
Haa Kabhi Naa (1994)
Egyptian superstar Amr Diab is one of
Bollywood’s most neglected crusaders. It is
not even funny when you notice how many of
his songs have been rehashed by bollywood
composers. Kaho Na Kaho from Emraan
Hashmi starrer Murder (2002), copied from
Amr Diab’s Tamally Maak, is the paramount
example of such plagiarism. The song was first
copied by Pakistani singer Amir Jamal for his
2003 album of the same name and then rehashed
by Anu Malik for the soundtrack of Murder.
Three years after Kuwait based Guitara
band released their track - Ya Ghali - Pritam
failed the plagiarism checker by lifting off
the song’s tune for his 2006 release - Ya Ali.
The band publicly called out Pritam for
‘ripping-off’ their song and even threatened
to follow suit against the composer. Pritam,
in return, denied the allegations stating that
his version of the song was inspired by an old
muslim folk song. Yet, if you listen to both the
songs, the similarities are quite uncanny.
The rai music classic, Dedi, by Algeria’s
Cheb Khaled has been a Bollywood
favourite for a long time, with a new version
reappearing every decade or so, yet none
have been as famous as Arijit Singh’s Didi
in Akshay Kumar starrer 2016 hostage
drama - Airlift. The song is a thrilling
blend of bollywood and arabic tunes and
became an instant hit on the the domestic
radio stations as soon as it was released.
It is understandable when composers copy
some obscure track made in Korea or Japan
and present it as an original, but things
become a little more conspicuous when
they replicate a track that is incredibly
famous all across the world. Jatin-Lalit’s
1994 track, Sachi Hai Ye kahani, was one
such example, where the prelude was
copied from Boney M’s 1978 disco hit -
Rasputin - while the rest of the song was
picked up from Johnny Wakelin ‘In Zaire’.
5. Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya, Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995)
Bollywood will steal from anything; literally anything. So, it shouldn’t surprise
you that they even copied the soundtrack theme of arguably the best movie ever
made in the history of cinema - Godfather. We don’t know what Anu Mallik was
thinking while ripping off this one, but guess what? It did actually work out.
The song became a famous hit and worked wonders for the movie too.
The
Score Magazine
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