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July.5.2008 @ These days Anu Malik's well seems to have dried up - I mean the well of plagiarism. So, has he turned clean? Well, not exactly. His composition in Mission Istaanbul, 'Yaar mere dildaara' seems to be inspired a Pakistani song of yore - 1978, to be precise. The original is 'Ek baat kahoon dildaara' from the 1978 Pakistani film 'Khuda aur mohobbat', with music by Tafoo and sung by A Nayyar. When Mahwish Abbasi wrote to me about this lift, I was skeptical. I heard both the tracks and had even concluded that besides the alarming similarity in lyrics, the tunes were different - Anu's song is pathos-laden while the Pakistani song is on a happy, love lorn note. And there were ways in which both the songs were sung - the Pakistani track had an extended 'Dil daaaaaraa' + 'maaaaraa' combination. I was ready to give Anu Malik the benefit of doubt - until I finished listening to the Mission Istaanbul track. Sunidhi goes exactly the same way as the Pakistani original towards the end of the song - just once! But, that's a dead giveaway along with the lyrical similarity to conclude Anu's intentions! So, the man is back! Listen to Yaar mere dildaara | Ek baat kahoon JULY.03.2008 @ The many hues of plagiarism! Came across these two instances of plagiarism that fall outside music plagiarism that we so passionately dissect. First, a case of content plagiarism. The aggrieved blogger is Inji Pennu of the Ginger and Mango blog. This post is r-e-a-l-l-y long but I couldn't believe what I was reading - folks from a Kerals.com and its parent company, Anashwara seem to be going ballistic for Inji Pennu pointing out content lifting without credit! The second case is even more bizarre - plagiarism in Public Relations. As a long time reader of India PR Blog (being in the communications/ PR line myself!), I was shocked to see a distressing post by Tushar Panchal of 'Thursdays with Tushar' fame where he points to one of his blog posts' content lifted with minor alterations by another communications professional, in the June issue of ‘Chanakya’ – the house journal of Public Relations Council of India! And yes, the content is largely the same, barring a few unimaginative additions across the article! Terribly disgusting instances, both! June.28.2008 @ I've got tons of mails on Kismat Konnection's (Milliblog music review) 'Is this love' supposedly inspired by 80s band A-ha's Take on me. Buzz 18's Chandrima Pal seems to have dedicated an entire music review of the soundtrack (!!) on dissecting and ranting on just this 'straight lift'. The culprit here is supposed to be 'Is this love' vs 'Take on me'. These 3 words seemingly have similar tunes. My take? Utter nonsense. I'd be the first one to target Pritam for plagiarism, as is evident over the heartache I've given the man in the past. But this allegation is plain silly. Those 3 words' tune is indeed sorta similar, but one needs to use his/ her discretion before blaming someone for plagiarism and 3 words in any song may sure sound like 3 more words of another song - to believe that a composer will start with those 3 words' tune right in the middle of a song and build his own around it simply isn't plausible, in my opinion. The similarity is strictly coincidental. As for the Buzz 18 reviewer, try listening the other songs in the soundtrack too lady - getting bogged down by one lift (not even an apt example, that too!) won't help you or your readers! And yes, this instance doesn't warrant an entry in Pritam's page. This of course doesn't mean I'm gonna spare him if we find the originals of 'Ai paapi' or 'Bakhuda' from the same film! For whatever its worth, watch the YouTube of A-ha's Take on me @ The second example is that of the Dasaavathaaram song, 'Kallai mattum kandaal' and its similarity with the Malayalam song, 'Baggy jeansum' (cringe, cringe!) from the film, Sainyam. Lot of mails on this one too! Now, the Malayalam song was a messy mix of Ace of Base's All that she wants and a joke of a tune. Himesh's Tamil track on the other hand does sound similar to the Malayalam song's part not lifted off Ace of Base, but until I get behind the possible source of both these tracks (if that exists), I'm not keen on documenting this since I (predominantly) look for lifts with sources outside India. Lifts/ similarities within India is a grey area with everything from raagas and cultural history thrown in. YouTube of Kallai mattum kandaal | Baggy jeansum @ Finally, a finer detail that I had missed all these years. Ram Gopal Varma's obsession for horror films is pretty unique. One such venture was the J.D.Chakravarthy, Maheshwari Telugu film, Deyyam (1998). The film's composer was V.Satyanarayana. The interesting thing about this film is the song, O Jabilli. Most people up north may be familiar with this song's tune since this was exactly the same tune of the title song in the Fardeen Khan, Urmila Matondkar film, Pyar Tune Kya Kiya (2001)! Sandeep Chowta was the music composer and Ram Gopal Varma was the co-producer of this film! But this is not the end of this story. When we dig deeper into the horror obsession part, we stumble into the original of both these tracks – a track titled Regan’s theme from the soundtrack of the English horror film, Exorcist II, The Heretic, sequel to the cult horror hit, The Exorcist! The composer of the sequel’s soundtrack was none other than the legendary Ennio Morricone! It’s quite amazing to see inspiration flowing from the soundtrack of a lesser known horror film, considering the sequel wasn’t as popular as the original. So, it seems like Ram Gopal Varma 'inspired' both the composers with his fetish for the scary! Listen to O Jabilli | Pyar tune kya kiya | Regan's theme June.17.2008 @ Continuing from last week's Pritam update, here's another fantastic example of the composer's mastery over the art of taking two tracks and seamlessly merging them into one chartbuster Hindi track! The only reason why I haven't made a fourth entry on Garam Masala (the soundtrack already has 3 lifts!) was because of only background/ orchestral similarities in the song Falak Dekhoon. The extended prelude is lifted directly off Amr Diab's 'Wala ala baloh' from his 2001 album Akhtar Wahed. I had assumed that the main tune is Pritam's own and gave him the benefit of doubt, by not adding this track. I couldn't have been more wrong - the tune is lifted from - no surprises here! - Amr Diab's 'Sadda'ny Khalas', from the same damn album, Akhtar Wahed!! Thanks to ItwoFS regulars, Parikshit Boloor, Terametrix, Enduro E, Devesh Rampuria, Ahmad Zaib, Sanjay Modha, Shariffah Abdullah and MSS who mailed me about Wala ala baloh. I had noticed the prelude similarity but did not add it since the tune seemed different. Thanks to Mohammed Riyazeth and Rana Singh who wrote to me about Sadkany Khalas. And, thanks to Vaibhav Rao who summed it all up by noting both the lifts - prelude and tune, in a single mail. Together, we've cracked yet another Pritam track! Listen to Falak dekhoon | Wala Ala Baloh (prelude) | Sadda'ny Khalas (main tune) June.07.2008 @ Last week's update on the Telugu song 'Ee Reyi Teeyanidi' from Pawan Kalyan's Johnny seems to have opened the hornet's nest! The song, as per 5 ItwoFS visitors, Rajendra Nath Peddinti, Sai Thejasvee, Ramesh Chembeti, Chandu and Raj Mohan Reddy, is nothing but a rehash of a 1970 track of the same title from the film, Chitti Chellelu, with music by the very popular Saluri Rajeswara Rao. Considering Pawan's love for old Telugu songs, it is assumed that he got his buddy and composer Ramana Gogula to remix/ reuse this tune in Johnny. So, the credit (!?) for lifting the 1967 French track, 'L'Amour Est Bleu' (or its more popular US version, Paul Mauriat's 'Love is blue' rightfully goes to Saluri Rajeswara Rao. Listen to Chitti Chellelu's Ee Reyi Teeyanidi @ Lets get on to more juicy updates now! The much maligned Pritam has already been exposed about his plagiarism of Jesse Cook's Mario takes a walk to create the opening 2 lines of his super hit title song from Dhoom (2004). I had noted in this listing that the most important part of this song - the catchy hook, 'Dhoom machale' is Pritam's own. But, Pritam, being the incorrigible plagiarizer, has lifted the hook too! Thanks to Vaibhav Rao, we now have the source of the hook tracked. And, its none other than our fave Middle Eastern singer, Amr Diab. Amr's song, Enta Ma Oltesh Leh, from the 2003 album, Allem Alby, has a hook that is exactly similar to our famous, 'Dhoom machale dhoom machale dhoom'! Congrats Pritam...your most popular number is nothing but a very clever mix of 2 other tracks - with no credit to any original artist, as usual! Hats off on you taking the simple art of plagiarism to the next level by innovatively fusing two completely disparate tracks into one chartbuster material! Listen to Dhoom machale | Mario takes a walk | Enta Ma Oltesh Leh June.03.2008 Message from Vishal Dadlani! "There's no real connection apart from the two tunes being 6/8 rhythm structures, and rock-based. Perhaps, on thinking about it, the rhythmic structure of our first vocal line and that of the riff from deep purple's song is somewhat similar, but certainly not the same, and the notes are totally different. We've never had the dishonor of being on their site, and would like to keep it that way. Vishal and Shekhar take great pride in being one of only two or three music directors to not have a listing there." I respect their stand and appreciate the honesty. So, off this goes to the coincidences section. This will NOT be archived under the Hindi - Others page and the Coincidences section listing will be accompanied by Vishal's explanation! June.01.2008 @ This is quite appropriate, actually! Even if Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata team is not in the semi-finals or today's finals, their's is perhaps is the most heard and most seen team anthem! I'm talking of the Vishal Shekhar composed 'Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo'. The track seems to be inspired (I use the word inspired, since it is!) by a 1970 Deep Purple track titled, 'Black Night'. Note the arrangements and a fairly prominent 'Too hot, too cool' part in the original - seems like a good source? Thanks to Yash K Sagar for the info on Black Night - very good find! Listen to Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo | Black Night @ The second update this week is a mighty blatant lift. Telugu star Pawan Kalyan's 2003 cult debacle, Johnny had music by Ramana Gogula - the techie turned composer who's still known for his 'Satyabhama dheere chalna' (which he composed along with Kush Khanna, as a reggae band named Misty Rhythms). One of the songs, 'Ee reyi teeyanidi' was a mighty direct rip-off of a French track titled, 'L'Amour Est Bleu', composed by André Popp with lyrics by Pierre Cour, in 1967. The song was first performed by Vicky Leandros (appearing as Vicky) as Luxembourg's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1967. Now, how on earth would have Ramana Gogula heard this French track? No, in all probabilities, he must have heard the track's cover version by Paul Mauriat, 'Love is blue' that was so popular in the US, that it was number-one hit in the US, for five weeks 1968! Thanks to Ch.V.V.Kumar for the info on Paul Mauriat's version and its connection to the Johnny track! Listen to Ee reyi teeyanidi | L'Amour Est Bleu (Vicky Leandros) | Love is blue (Paul Mauriat) May.25.2008 @ Balu Mahendra's 1985 Malayalam classic, 'Yathra' (which was remade by him in Tamil with Dhanush in the lead, as 'Adhu oru kanaa kaalam, quite unnecessarily!) had scintillating music by Ilayaraja. For a song in a bus journey with kids, Thannannam thaanannam, Ilayaraja had, for some reason, sought pretty direct inspiration from an evergreen, extremely well-known number - 'My favorite things' from The Sound of Music. Yes, Raja had made enough adaptations to suit this to an Indian film song, but the inspiration is quite apparent. Was this a request from Balu? Yet another Ilayaraja track that seems to use mild bits of the same original is the 1990 Chatriyan number, 'Poottukkal pottaalum'. Here the tune is completely changed with only marginal resemblances to the Sound of Music hit. Incidentally, Raja had first used this tune in the 1981 Telugu film Nireekshana, by Balu Mahendra, for the song, 'Thiyyani'! Was Nireekshana the first version (in Telugu, 1981/1982) and Yatra its remake in Malayalam (1985)? Can anyone who has seen both comment? Thanks to Arun KB for the audio clip of the Malayalam number. Listen to Thannannam | Poottukkal | Thiyyani | My favorite things May.18.2008 @ Another one of those long pending additions! This one was in this page's footer for ages - Hemant Kumar's Bees Saal Pehle number, 'Jab tak yeh raat hai baki'. Composed by Hemant Kumar, this is a pretty direct lift of the 1970 international chartbuster, 'Yellow River', by the British band, Christie. Yellow River's Wikipedia entry reveals that this track was first offered to another band, The Tremeloes, who found it too pop-oriented for their future and went ahead with another track, after recording it with Christie's lead, Jeff Christie! Thanks to Ashish Tripathi for the Bees Saal Pehle track! Listen to Jab tak yeh | Yellow river PS: Is it just me or does anyone else also 'hear' the tune of 'Sayonara' from Love in Tokyo in Yellow River? Nothing too direct, just traces :-) Permanent posts! @ I've been trying to trace the originals of the following songs - any info that you think would help, please do mail me. - Chalte Chalte - Chalte Chalte [Bappi Lahiri] - Supposed to be lifted off a German folk song. - Anari - Woh chand khila [Shankar Jaikishen] - A very popular western classical piece, has also been used as a background piece by A R Rahman in the movie 'May Madham'. @ Also refer to this page, which says, "He (Raj Kapoor) never hesitated to adapt tunes (such as 'Is libe dis, I love you' and 'Dost dost na raha', both in 'Sangam') which had appealed to him". So what are the sources of these tracks? If you know, lemme know! @ I'm looking for an audio clip (any format, size) of the following track... [1] The All India Radio FM signature tune, that goes 'A.I.R FM Rainbow...all the time...' @ This is more of a personal search than about a lift...it could be a possible lift too, btw! The song from the Maniratnam production, 'Five Star'...titled 'Rayile rayile' has a generous sprinkling of some world music stuff. For some reason Azerbaijani music pops in my mind, though its only a wild guess. Could anybody recognize the style/ country of this music? It can be heard in the one of the sites below! Raaga | Smashhits | Musicindiaonline (5th song) Please do mail me in case you have these tracks or know more about these! Enter your search terms Web itwofs Submit search form Hindi Anu Malik Anand Milind Anand Raaj Anand Bappi Lahiri Jatin Lalit Kalyanji Anandji Laxmikant Pyarelal Nadeem Shravan OP Nayyar Pritam Chakravarty Rajesh Roshan RD Burman Salil Chaudhry SD Burman Sandeep Chowta Sanjeev Darshan Shankar Jaikishen Hindi - others Tamil A R Rahman Deva Ilayaraja Karthikraja Yuvan S. Raja Tamil - others Assorted Coincidences Indipop Advt. jingle lifts Telugu Trivia

Disclaimer and help on audio files: The site demonstrates similarities in music, usually compared between an Indian composition with that of a composition from another part of the world or within India. The final interpretation on what constitutes a similarity is entirely my assumption. The similarity thus deduced is not based on a purely scientific basis like note-to-note comparison nor am I musically knowledgeable enough to do that. The attempt here is to merely showcase similarities that are obvious to a normal person with no/ limited musical sense, in other words, the lowest common denominator basis for understanding similarities. This is also the reason why I use the terms 'lift', 'copied' or 'plagiarized' and not 'infringed' since this site is not ideally conceived as a legal proof for music plagiarism. The Audio files included here are for demonstration purposes only and are merely edited clippings, mostly lasting not more than 30 seconds. The quality in which they are edited is also ensured to be minimal so that they may not replace actual, full fledged digital versions. The clips are not meant to infringe any copyright whatsoever. Please download and install the free Real Player to listen to these song files.

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