Play, pause, repeat

Play, pause, repeat

Here's some more gyan on the never-ending saga of plagiarism in the music industry

Shweta Teotia

The never-ending list of music borrowed has reached a new high now with films like Krrish, Fanaa and Gangster. In these films, the music directors have rehashed their own past tunes to create chart-topping music.

Music composers Jatin-Lalit – working for the last time together for Fanaa – have dug up tracks from their previous collections to put together the soundtrack for this film. Their song 'Chanda Chamke' is a direct lift from 'Yaara Yaara' which they had originally composed for Hum Tum. The song was not included in the film but was retained in the soundtrack. Lalit says, "Yes, we have used the same music in 'Chanda Chamke'. We always felt that song deserved more popularity and so decided to make use of it this time around."

What about the beautiful whistle interlude in 'Chand Sifarish' which can be heard in 'Chanda chamke'? "Well, we wanted a common theme, a common sound running through the compilation and hence we have used it."

As for lifting music from international hits, Lalit says, "We are very open about all this. We never copy songs. If we like something, we borrow it and work on it and try to make it different."

But what about songs (see box) which sound exactly the same as that of international artistes? "Some sort of semblance is inevitable. We have grown up listening to some singers and composers and naturally their influence reflects in our music," he adds. We've heard that one before, haven't we, from a certain Ms. Kaavya Vishwanathan?

Rajesh Roshan has often included his old melodies in new films, apart from western numbers. In Krrish, he has composed a new song called 'Aao sunaoon pyaar ki ek kahaani' on the lines of 'Hosh na kho de kahin josh mein dekh ne wala' from Koyla. But then, no Hindi film soundtrack is complete without at least some song copied from abroad. So, we have 'Dil na diya' which bears a striking similarity to a Turkish Military anthem called 'Ceddin Deden' originally composed by Kaptanzadi Ali Riza Bey, the remixed version of which appeared in Claude Challe/ Ravin's Nirvana Longe volume 1. To take a peek into Roshan's other inspirations see the box below.

Pritam, whose music gave the film Gangster an extra edge, has used obscure, rare music to enhance his own. For instance, the track 'Bheegi Bheegi' is directly inspired from Mohinder Ghoraguli's song 'Prithbi'. He says, "This song is one of my favourites and I have worked very hard on it. We took permission from the late singer's wife and even paid the man who had produced the original song."

But what about 'Lamha lamha', which sounds like Waris Baig's 1998 song, 'Kal shab dekhi maine'? Pat comes his answer, "I have not heard this song before."

When we probe further and ask him about his other, more famous, tracks (see box), he repeatedly maintains, "No comments".


Lift kara de

Jatin Lalit

• Sachhi Yeh Kahani Hai (Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na) taken from In Zaire (Johnny Wakelin)
• Suniye To (Yes Boss) taken from Ahla Ma Feki (Hisham Abbas)
• Yahan Ke Hum Sikander (Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander) taken from Inspired from Pinball Wizard (The Who)
• Jaana Suno (Khamoshi) taken from Bring The Wine (Paul Anka)
• Koi Mil Gaya (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber's Take That Look Off Your Face
• Pehli Pehli Baar Jab (Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai) taken from Born To Be Alive (Patrick Hernandez)

Pritam

• Shikdum (Dhoom) taken from Sikidim (Tarkan)
• Halka Halka Sa Yeh Nasha (Chocolate) taken from Breeze from Saintes Maries (Jesse Cook)
• Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai (Gangster) taken from Oliver Shanti & Friends - Sacral Nirvana
• Adaa (Garam Masala) taken from Ana (Amr Diab)

Rajesh Roshan

• Chand Sitare (Kaho Na Pyar Hai) taken from Voices (Vangelis)
• Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaye (Jurm) taken from A Hundred Miles (Kingston Trio)
• Haseena Gori Gori (Tarazu) taken from Summertime (Shaggy)
• Soot Boot Mein (Kishan Kanhaiya) taken from Iko Iko ('50s New Orleans song by James Crawford rerecorded by Belle Chants in '80s)
• Aye Dil (Kya Kehna) taken from Oh Carol (Neil Sedaka)

Pritam

Jatin-Lalit

Rajesh Roshan

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=10&am p;am p;articleid=5132006112175051320060584859

Wow thanks for this. i always felt that they were copied, but was unable to come upwithsongs. What about Bappi Lahiri, i am sure he copied several songs too. There are already copying movies from west and now theycopy music too from everywhere. It is prettypathetic. May be thats why JL split since they know theformula now on making music.

A very interesting topic....!!!!!!!!!


The funniest part was when Bappi Lahiri and Anu Malik both would copy songs and they would accuse each other of plagiarism... 😆

I dont remeber the song but it was in Judwa and picturized on Salman Khan. Can anyone remember the song?