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! 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 :-)
8
Kyun hai deewanu tu akela [Film: Bees Saal
Pehle]
Composer: Hemant Kumar
Inspired from Mary Hopkin's Those were the days.
Looking for the
Hindi track!
9
Oh oh oh oh Baby [Film: Police]
Composer: Hemant Kumar
Inspired from the oldie number Oh oh oh bernadine.
Looking for the
Hindi track!
10
Gore gore
[Samadhi]
<TC>
Composer: C Ramachandra
Lifted from the number by Edmundo Ros, 'Chico chico'.
Multiple sources of inspiration! The opening is from Mike
Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' (1973). The main tune is from Deep Forest's
first song of the same name released in 1992!
The
musical was based on Edna Ferber's book with the same name that was
released in 1926. The composers of the original version of Showboat
(there have been many versions subsequently!) were Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern.
The original 'Old man river' has been sung by people like Bing Crosby,
Paul Robeson, Al Johnson and Jules Bledsoe. However, without robbing any
credit from our own Bhupen Hazarika, I personally felt 'Bistirno paarore'
is the Indian interpretation of the older classic and is
Indianized to a large extent. Particularly, listen to the original from
the point 00:54:00 onwards - there are clear indications of how the
Indian version was conceived! Also, note that the subsequent version
Ganga was based on the river while the original showboat version was
about the river Mississippi! Was Bistirno...based on some river too?
Bramhaputra? Just a guess - its possible! Also strikingly similar is the kind of quivery voice on
both the Indian and western version!! I'm sure the subsequent western
versions were licensed and authorized. But was the Indianized version
authorized by the original's license owners? That's what holds the key
between a plagiarized work and an inspired one!
23
Dil deke dekho
[Dil deke dekho]
<TC>
Composer: Usha Khanna
Lifted from the song 'Sugar in the morning' by The McGuire Sisters.
The violin intro is a rather clumsy Indian
version (IMO) for those who've heard the original for ages! The rest of
the actual tune is Roshan's original.
Ditto! I also happened to come across an
interview of Jojo in the Nazara
website where, when asked what is the inspiration behind 'woh kaun
thi', he says "....inspiration... for woh kaun thi... well just an
expectation of somebody in your life... a mystery"!!!!?
The composer of Caro diario was Nicola Piovani
who was also the composer of the Oscar winning 'La vita e bella', better
known as 'Life is beautiful'. Wonder if Vishal and Gulzar saab saw the
movie in some international film festival in Mumbai and decided that
this piece was too good to resist!!?
36
Do chamakti aankhon mein [Detective (1958)]
<TC>
Composer: Mukul Roy
Lifted from Harry Belafonte's 'Jamaica Farewell' (1956)
'Andalucia' was originally written in 1930 by Ernesto Lecuona as part of his 'Spanish Suite'. It was later performed by itself by his band, the Lecuona Cuban Boys. The song enjoyed some success, but it was ten years later, when Jimmy Dorsey recorded it in 1941, as a vocal
number (by the name, 'Breeze and I), with Bob Eberly singing Al Stillman's lyrics, that it became a #1 hit in the U.S. It's a wistful song, in which the singer laments that his love is known only to 'the breeze and I'.
38
Haal tujhe apni
[Aasha (1957)]
<TC>
Composer: C Ramachandra
Inspired by the song 'Andalucia' by Ernesto Lecuona. (refer last entry!)
Also, check out the other recent version of Tequila (this page, listing
no. 06). Apart from the 2 songs mentioned above, another really famous S
D Burman number sounds like the opening line of Tequila. How about 'Mere
sapnon ki rani kab' from Aradhana (1969)? But yes, the similarity is
strictly restricted to the first line only! Listen to
Mere
sapnon ki rani kab
Trivia on Tequila:
Dave
Burgess of The Champs was working a session, one afternoon in 1957. With some studio time remaining, Burgess asked the other musicians to stay, to help him come up with a B-side for a record he had previously
recorded. One musician offered a Tex-Mex sax line, another a snappy guitar riff, the drummer played a backbeat on the bell of his cymbal and Burgess plucked the muted strings of his electric
guitar. The song was called "Tequila" and in ten minutes they had a take.
Everyone who heard the tune liked it and Challenge Records decided to release it immediately.
Demo copies were sent to major deejays across the country in late December, 1957. "Tequila" was topping both the "pop" and R&B charts by March 1958 and went on to sell a million copies and win the 1958 Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues Performance.
41
O priya o priya
[Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye (2000)]
<TC>
Himesh Reshammiyya has so far been a
consistently 'dinchak-jhatak-matak' kind of music director - a dream
come true for someone like David Dhawan who has worked with him in
Dulhan Hum Le Jaayenge and now in Yeh Hai Jalwa. Surprisingly, barring a
few numbers, Himesh hasn't lifted much in his films so far. Hence it
came as a surprise when I heard 'O priya o priya' from the Salman
starrer 'Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye' (2000, the movie itself was a lift of
the Adam Sandler starrer, 'The Wedding Singer'). The song was a direct
lift from Santana's chartbusting 'Maria' (1999
- Featuring The Product G&B, Produced by Wyclef Jean). Even more
surprising is that many online music reviews haven't mentioned this
lift...in fact a Subash K Jha review in Indya.com says this about this
song "...O priya priya with its sing-along chant has a key interlude taken from A R Rahman's Mere paas hai tu in Taal. That apart, Reshammiya has been able to squeeze a semblance of sympathetic melody into O priya"!
(Indya.com -
KPNHJ)
42
Tip tip barsa paani
[Mohra]
Composer: Viju Shah
The prominent interlude/prelude inspired by Dr Alban's 'Roll down di
rubber man'.
Two interesting things to note here....'Cancao do mar' was part of the soundtrack of 'Primal fear' from whose plot Deewangi has been inspired. And second,
'cancao do mar' has already been lifted as-is in
Tamil, for the movie Kushi, with music by Deva! This is probably Ismail Darbar's first blatant lift...I can almost see Director Anees Bazmee and Producer Nitin Manmohan compelling Ismail to lift this number...but you never know...! Also listen to
the Tamil version
Oh Vennila
[Kushi]
44
Aaj ki ladki
[Mujse Dosti Karoge (2002)]
Composer: Rahul Sharma
An interlude sounds exactly similar to a piece from Afro Celt Sound
System's 'Lovers of Light' (1999).
Even though Amar Utpal have used a pretty familiar Bollywood'ish tune
for the actual song, Mother has its stamp all over the Hindi track! An
interesting inspiration! For a song that was voted as the least
favorite of all Police numbers, its quite strange that Amar Utpal
chose it to base his Shahenshah number!
46
Dil Ko
[Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein (2001)]
<TC>
Composer: Harris Jeyaraj
Inspired by Secret Garden's 'Song from a secret garden'.
'Dil Ko' was supposedly inspired by tracks like 'This is my song' (courtesy: The Music
Magazine)
and Mr Big's Wild World. But the secret garden track is a more direct source of inspiration.
The
chord progressions are exactly lifted, in my opinion, to form a cohesive
Filmi tune!
47
ABCDEFGHI... [Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999)]
<TC>
Composer: Ram Laxman
Inspired by the Spanish track, 'Por que te vas?' by singer Jeanette.
The 1974
Spanish movie 'Cria Cuervos' had the song 'Por que te vas?' sung by
singer Jeanette and composed by Jose Luis Perales. Wonder how on earth
did Ram Laxman think of lifting this song!!
Trivia note on Jeanette:Jeanette was actually an American singer and started recording in the late 60's with the Spanish group Pic-Nic. In the 70's she went solo and her biggest hit to date was 'Por que te vas?', the song that featured in the 1974 film 'Cria cuervos'. The original was composed by Jose Luis
Perales.
48
Aye aye ya ya
[Pran Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye (2003)]
<TC>
Composer: Daboo Malik
Lifted LSB from Los Lobos' 'Cancion del mariachi' from the soundtrack of
the 1995 hit, 'Desperado'
"When did you realise that you had it in you to compose?
I don’t know when exactly, but its been a little while now. For me composing songs started like a sudden eruption of a volcano. All of a sudden my head was filled with tunes, which kept coming just like that. So much so that I used to carry a walkman with me wherever I went, in the bathroom, in the lift, so that I could record the tune immediately. I didn’t quite understand what struck me. In six months’ time I was ready with more than 400 melodies. And what spurred me further was the acceptability by the industry. If I had one sitting with a filmmaker, I would immediately get a reaction in the form of praise, or a film offer came to me."
-- Daboo Malik, brother of Anu Malik, in a recent interview with
Screen Magazine.
Looks like these 'tunes' in Daboo's head have already visited Los Lobos'
head before landing up in his!
49
Hum Pyaar Tera Jo [Market (2003)]
<TC>
Composer: Altaf Raja
Direct rip-off of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's 'Yeh Shaam Phir Nahi Aayegi'
(1996, from the album 'Sangam' which had lyrics by Javed Akhtar).
Strangely enough, the uncle-nephew duo of Sonik Omi decided not the lift the main tune of the original, and instead created their tune out of the prelude. However, this prelude is a bit too common in terms of its progression.
51
Dil
Ke Badle [Zameer (2003)]
<TC>
Composer: Nikhil
Vinay
DIRECT lift of
the track by the same wordings, from the Pakistani film, 'Ghar
kab aao ge' (2000)
The original
Pakistani film, 'Ghar Kab Aao Ge' was released in 2000, with
music by Amjad Bobby and lyrics by Qateel Shifai. Wonder why
Nikhil Vinay have been credited with this 'so-called' Hindi
version while everything, from lyrics, to tune are lifted.
Also wonder who actually got the credit for the lyrics for
the 'Zameer' version....if its anybody else other than
Qateel Shifai, I'm sure its a joke!
52
Koyi
aayega [Asambhav (2004)]
Composer: Viju
Shah
Partly inspired
by the 60s Noor Jehan track, 'Mahi aave ga' that was remixed
and resung by Shazia Manzoor in 2000.
The slower
passages in the middle of the song that goes, 'Delha tenu
pehli pehli...' is a direct lift from Shazia Manzoor's track
'Batiyan bujaye rakhdi'..
Shazia's original
track was part of her 1999 album, 'Chan Makhna'. The
original is a super energetic track while Aadesh has used it
for what Bollywood calls, 'Pathos' mood :-)
R Kelly's track
was part of his 2003 album, 'Chocolate Factory'
57
Nimbuda Nimbuda [Hum Dil De
Chuke Sanam (1999)] <TC>
Composer: Ismail
Darbar
Inspired by
Ghazni Khan Manganiyar's Rajasthani Folk song, 'Nimbuda'
Listen to
Nimbuda [Hum
Dil De Chuke Sanam] |
Nimbuda
[Original]
If you'd like to listen to the full version of the folk song,
click
here
(check out 'Nimbuda Nimbuda'!)
Take a look at
these 2 (out of many other sites) sites that talk of this
song being a lift from a Rajasthani Manganiyar folk song!
Diverse Strains |
Sunday Tribune
I completely agree with Shuba Mudgal (who has penned the write-up in
Diverse Strains) when she asks, "If we can listen to a folk song in a
blockbuster movie, why can we not give an occasional patient hearing to
the original?" Ismail Darbar had a wonderful chance to handle this
in the right way, but I wonder why he messed it up and ended with a
'plagiarist' tag - that too in his much-celebrated debut. All he had to
do was to add a note of credit to the original composer of the song,
Rajasthani folk singer Ghazni Khan Manganiyar, so that people can
differentiate between the original and the Bollywood version - when you
listen to the two you'd understand the kind of work that Ismail has put
in, in his version and made a simple,
'otherwise-restricted-to-a-few-discerning-listeners' track into an
ultra-catchy dance number! Its a pity that decided to pass it as his
original composition.
58
Daud Title Song [Daud (1999)]
Composer: A R
Rahman
A piece towards
the end of the song sounds like 'If I were a rich man' from
Fiddler on the Roof.
The tune heard (for a fleeting few seconds,
in the beginning of the advt. when the girl opens a Pepsi
bottle) in the
Pepsi advt. is a track called
'Rich Girl' by Gwen Stefani. Gwen's 'Rich Girl' itself
borrows heavily from the track, 'If I were a rich man' from
the famous play/ movie, 'Fiddler on the roof' (1951 Broadway
version, 1971 Movie version) and I believe this is credited
too. Rahman's Daud title song (that has 2 versions - by Usha
Uthup and Remo Fernandes) uses the main part of this tune
right towards the end of the song and sounds more like a
tribute to 'Fiddler...'. Did Rahman use it as a tribute
fully knowing that he's using so-and-so? Only he could
answer!
59
Didi Tera Devar [Hum Aapke Hain
Kaun (1994)] <TC>
Composer: Ram
Laxman
Inspired by
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's 'Saare Nabian'
This theme that borrows generously from Pet Shop
Boys' 1984 track (also famously voted as one of PSB's
worst songs!). I still remember the kind of euphoria Tridev (and other
soundtracks like QSQT, Dil etc.) generated back in the end of 80s.
Almost every home had the sad looking audio tape played many times over
in family dos! I was completely zapped by Tridev's techno [ :-) ] theme
when I heard it first. Now I know who the credit should go to!
61
62
'Kaisi paheli hai yeh' and 'Soona
man ka' [Parineeta (2005)] <TC>
Composer:
Shantanu Moitra
'Kaisi...' lifted
straight off Louis Armstrong's 1951 track 'A Kiss To Build A
Dream On' while a line in 'Soona...' is lifted from Tagore's
'Phoole phoole'!
'A Kiss To Build A Dream On' is from the
soundtrack of the 1951 film 'The Strip', written and composed by Bert
Kalmar; Harry Ruby; Oscar Hammerstein II. For a 'considered-talented'
newcomer this is disastrous and rather shameful.
63
64
'Dillagi' and 'Marjawan' [Aashiq
Banaya Aapne (2005)] <TC>
Composer:
Himesh Reshamiyya
Lifted off Ali
Zafar's Rangeen and Faakhir's Marjawan, respectively!
The film's soundtrack has 6 composers and
this one is by Guru Sharma. Turns out that he didn't actually compose it
either. He merely added Hindi lyrics to it since it is originally by
Modern Talking...a track called 'No face, no name, no number' (2000,
album: Year of the dragon - not to be confused with Traffic's 1967 track
of the same name from the album 'Mr Fantasy').
69
Pal pal [Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006)] <TC>
Composer:
Shantanu Moitra
Inspired by
Cliff Richard's evergreen 'Theme for a dream' (1961)
Almost every review of the soundtrack
noticed the lift from Cliff Richard's 'Theme for a dream' (1961). But
what intrigues me is another popular 80s track, 'When you're in love
with a beautiful woman' by Dr Hook sounds very similar to Cliff
Richard's track and subsequently, to the one by Shantanu. Its worth
noting here that Dr Hok's track has already inspired 2 other direct
Hindi tracks - Bappi Lahiri's 'Mere jaisi haseena' (Armaan) and Anu
Malik's 'O mere neend churane waale' (Chamatkar)! So, what's the story
behind Dr Hook now?
Listen to
Mere jaisi haseena
|
O mere neend churane waale
70
Mele chaliyan [Yahaan (2005)] <TC>
Composer:
Shantanu Moitra
Lifted directly
off a traditional Punjabi wedding track with the same
lyrics, made famous by Musarrat Nazir.
There's absolutely no mention of any such
thing in the CD of Yahaan and worse, Gulzar is credited for the lyrics.
Check out Musarrat's version...doesn't seem to be very different in
terms of lyrics!
71
Kaun Aaya...meri Neeta
[Dil deke dekho (1959)] <TC>
The overall feel is mildly tweaked, but basic tune is a rather direct
lift.
Trivia on Paul Anka's
Diana: Diana refers to Paul Anka's neighbor, Diana Ayoub on whom Paul
had a crush when he was 15. Paul recorded the song at the same age, in
1956. The music was based on a popular Latin rhythm called cha-lypso, a
modified cha-cha done to a calypso beat. Cha-lypso had been invented a
only a few months earlier. It has been reported that "Diana" has been
recorded over three hundred times in sixteen countries between 1957 and
1963. Worldwide Anka's version reportedly has sold more then nine
million copies.
73
Subah subah
[Yash (1996)] <TC>
Composer:
Tabun Sutradhar
Racy version of a Bengali folk
track, 'Boli o nonodi'
I usually stay away from intra-Indian lifts, but chose to add this since
it was a fairly big hit for a struggling composer, back
in 1996! Sung by Jojo, this track made quite a splash in 1996 through the ratings it
notched up in Superhit Muqabla. Tabun is still struggling, but this
track, which gave him recognition seems to be ripped straight of a
Bengali folk track, 'Boli o nonodi'. One
of the best known versions of the original folk happens to be by singer
Sapna (Swapna) Chakraborty that is supposed to have released in 1978.
74
Title Song [Life mein kabhi kabhi (2007)] <TC>
Composer:
Lalit Pandit
Lifted from Amr Diab's 2000
track 'Eni alem allah'.
With so much attention on
Pritam's lifting spree, here's a case where the man is
perhaps not connected at all and still is being blamed -
just because he has composed 2 other songs in the
soundtrack. A report in
Calcutta Times on August 10th has the Bangla band
Chandrabindoo and their record label fuming. Reason: Their
song, 'Aaj abar' from the 1999 album 'Twaker Jatna Nin' is
lifted pretty much directly as 'Aarzoo hai', in the soundtrack of
Kaisay Kahein (2007). The funny thing is Pritam has
composed just two tracks (Kee kasoor and the title song) and
has been specifically credited just for those. The other
tracks are credited to their respective composers - quite
unusually for a Hindi film soundtrack - a great feat in
itself. Despite that, our Chandrabindoo friends talk at
great length about how their former band member Pritam
sought their permission to use 'Aaj abar' and
then forgot all about the crediting bit and so on. I wonder
what the actual truth is, since the much-maligned Pritam is
completely out of the picture even in the CD sleeve, as
regards this particular track!
76
Yamma yamma [Chinatown (1962)] <TC>
Composer:
Ravi
Lifted from
the Persian folk track, 'Mastom mastom'.
The song is a blatant lift from a traditional Persian song
called, 'Mastom mastom' made popular by many singers.
The versions included include are by Pari Zangeneh and Mitra.
The song even features a small piece that's lifted from the
Egyptian track, 'Ya mustafa' (which has been lifted since,
by R D Burman (No.5 in RDB page) and Nadeem Shravan (No.4 in
NS page). Ravi's mix'n'match skills at work, I suppose. Watch Chinatown's Yamma
Yamma
here!
77
78
79
80
Showbiz (2007) <TC>
Composer:
Lalit Pandit
'Tu
mujhse' lifted from Nepali singer Sugam Pokhrel's 2003
track, 'Mero mann', from the album, 'Highway'.
'Duniya ne' lifted off Amr Diab's 'Albi Ikhtarak' from his
2000 album, 'Tamally Maak'.
'Mere falak' lifted from Amr Diab's 'We malo' from the album
'Kammel Kalamak' (2005).
'Kaash ek din' inspired by Amr Diab's 'Ma3ak begad' from 'Kammel
Kalamak' again!
Considering 'Mere ibadat' is a
small'ish bit song version of Kaash ek din, there are just 4
songs in this soundtrack. All of them are lifted. And, with
that Lalit Pandit enters ItwoFS Hall of Shame, along with
Sanjeev Darshan (for Mann) for lifting every single song in
a soundtrack. A huge
round of applause to Lalit Pandit.
Interestingly, the film's promos show Sugam Pokhrel's name
as the original composer of 'Tu mujhse' while the audio CD
is blissfully unaware of this connection. The other 3 tracks
are lifted off Amr Diab, and Albi Ikhtarak has already been
adequately lifted by Sanjeev Darshan, as 'Deewana deewana' in
Rishtey (No. 10, Sanjeev Darshan page)!
81
Govinda Theme -
Sarkar Raj (2008) <TC>
Composer:
Bapi Tutul
Lifted
off the main title theme of Omen II, composed by Jerry
Goldsmith.
Ram Gopal Varma's love for horror
films/ horror film theme pieces continues - into Sarkar Raj.
The composer seems to be getting out of work, ignored and
neglected composers to compose music based on his personal
fetish. So, in Sarkar Raj (2008), for a musical piece
titled, 'Govinda Theme' he gets Bapi Tutul (again!) to lift
and Indianize the Main Title theme of Omen II (1978), which
had stunning music by Jerry Goldsmith. RGV, being the
maverick he is, even accepts this life in his
blog - can someone use this against him and sue him,
please? 22. I could recollect
omen II listening to the tracks of Sarkar Raj.
Ans: - Yes I copied it from there. I saw Omen II seven times
in Vijaywada, Leela Mahal just to listen to the title track.
Mukul Roy's score in the 1958
Pradeep Kumar, Mala Sinha starrer, Detective is already
tainted - 'Do chamkti aankhon mein' lifted straight off
Harry Belafonte's 'Jamaica Farewell'. Here's the second - 'Chhodiye
gussa huzoor' inspired by the 50s hit, 'Bimbo'. Bimbo was
first written by Rodney Morris and recorded by Gene Autry in
1953. The song was released as a 78 rpm single by Capitol
Records. But the song became a massive hit when Jim Reeves
covered it shortly thereafter - it was one of the early hits
of Jim Reeves. Mukul Roy, despite the tag of being Geeta
(Roy) Dutt's brother, seems to have composed for just three
films and Detective is one of them.
Without getting into the sleep
inducing nature of the album, I should add that Himesh, despite the number
of songs he has composed in a short span of time has been
reasonably clear of plagiarism charges - 2 lifts in Aashiq
Banaya Aapne were attributed by him to the film's director
(not in the CD though, which simply credits Himesh for all
songs!). But he has his share of lifts in the form of Kahin
pyaar na ho jaaye's 'O priya o priya' and Aitraaz's 'Gela
gela'. That is still a mighty small number for someone with
so many songs to his credit - but here's the latest!
Karzzzz's 'Soniye je tere naal' seems to be a replica of a
Punjabi folk song with the same lyrics and was part of
Punjabi singer Kulwinder Kally's 2002 album, Sham Wali Gaddi.
While the record label has credited SAREGAMA India for the 'Ek
haseena thi' remix - the a credit to Laxmikant Pyarelal and
George Benson's 'We as love' could have been very
appropriate! - there is just no credit to the folk song or
its roots. Given Himesh's penchant for staying original, how
did he pass this tune as his own?
Even before the Soniye nee tere lift
in Himesh's latest, Karzzzz, there were mumblings over the
Karunesh-styled 'Lut jaaoon'. It bears an uncanny
resemblance to Karunesh's 2000 super hit, 'Punjab', a
loung'ish remix of OP Nayyar's 'Aao huzoor tumko', from the
album, Global Spirit. Given the fact that the German born
Karunesh (real name: Bruno Reuter) samples a lot of Indian
pieces and vocals, the Punjabi vocals (not the 'Aao huzoor
tumko' part) in 'Punjab' too could be sampled from another
source, though both the female vocalist and the composer of
this particular tune has not been credited. But, Himesh
seems to have used a huge chunk of Punjab, including the
tune for the female, Punjabi vocals and most importantly,
the loung'ish backgrounds, which is why this entry finds its
place in ItwoFS. If it was just the vocals (or the tune for
the vocals) he'd have done something very similar to
Karunesh, but his Lut jaaoon seems to be inspired directly
by Karunesh's Punjab as a package - almost as if he
interspersed his 'Oooohs' and the core tune within 'Punjab'.
Any idea who the singer in Karunesh's Punjab is?
84
Yara sili sili - Lekin
(1991) <TC>
Composer:
Hridaynath Mangeshkar
Inspired by the
Pakistani singer Reshma's folk song, Chori chori!
I do understand that the original's
composer and year are unknown in many cases, but that
doesn't mean they can be passed off as Hridaynath Mangeshkar's composition, for
instance. They could have been easily credited as
'Traditional folk song', but I suppose the Hindi composers
chose not to do so.
While editing Reshma's Chori chori, I started humming something else and
ended up with Bappi Lahiri's 'Chori chori' from Dalal! Yes,
that delightful melody from Bappi da in that god-awful film.
Looks like Bappi da has very cleverly used the same source
to come up with a fabulous number!
Listen to
Chori chori (Dalal)
85
Title song - Sorry Bhai
(2008) <TC>
Composer:
Vivek Philip
Inspired by Justin
Timberlake's 2007 chartbuster, 'What goes around'
The film has music by Gaurav Dayal, who was till now mired in B-gradism -
non-starter Indipop aspirant Shael's album, Say Salaam India
and so on. This film could be his ticket to better things.
Strangely, Onir hands over the film's title song to another
hopeless composer, Vivek Philip. And what does Mr Philip do?
He seeks generous inspiration from none other than Justin
Timberlake's 2007 chartbuster, 'What goes around'...yes the
same one with the
steamy video featuring Timberlake and Scarlett Johansson.
Its a clever lift though - the rhythm is slightly spruced
up, a bit faster, but the starting line and the chorus gives
it away very easily. The whole song seems to be carefully
and deliberately modeled along the original!
86
Ramji O Ramji - Itihaas
(1997) <TC>
Composer:
Dilip Sen Sameer Sen
Completely lifted off Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's 'Maar gai
udeek din'.
The song, Ramji O Ramji is an
astonishingly direct lift from Nusrat's 'Maar gai udeek din
raat'. The original was featured in a compilation titled,
'The Immortal Duo' (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Madam Noor Jahan,
that is!) that came released in Pakistan in 1996.
The tune and backgrounds are
straight lifts from the cult classic,
Stand By Me, made popular by Ben E. King, back in the
50s. Mighty shocking lift, this...given how closely it has
been copied and how popular the original is with numerous
cover versions down the years!
88
Parwazen
- A Wednesday
(2008) <TC>
Composer:
Sanjoy Chowdhury
Shameful usage of an FLStudio sample named 'Aren't you
clever'
Veteran composer Salil Chowdhury's son, Sanjoy Chowdhury
made a
middling film debut in Neeraj Pandey's surprise hit, A
Wednesday, last year. As if the sub-standard soundtrack is
not enough, here's one more reason to be annoyed with the
soundtrack and Sanjoy's debut - the song, Parwazen, sung by
Shaan. ItwoFS reader Anudutt points out the alarming
similarity between Parwazen and a track titled, 'Aren't you
clever' by someone names Laurie Webb and Mr. Clever. Now,
this isn't as simple as it seems - the complete song,
'Aren't you clever' is supposedly a demo song in the popular
music producing software,
FL
Studio (Fruity Loops). There's
precious little about Laurie Webb on the net too! The
same guitar sequence can be heard in Telugu composer Mickey
J Meyer's 'Lalijo' from the film Hare Ram. But, there the
similarity is minimal, as if Mickey has built his song
ground up with the use of a ready loop. In Sanjoy's case,
its ditto!
Considering I'm not entirely clued in to the Fruity Loops
story, here are a few questions.
a. Is Sanjoy that lazy that he just appropriates a demo song
as-is and that too in his debut?
b. Is this fair use? Yes, the song may be a demo, but can a
composer who has paid for the software (assuming) use the
demo track as-is to create a commercial track?
c. Is the composer required to disclose the source, even if
this is a demo track?
The reason why I'm asking these questions is because
composers these days heavily rely on samples and loops, but
here,
Laurie Webb's entire song is being used exactly with
very minimal changes. Could someone who has used FLStudio
clarify if this entire track is available as a demo that can
just be used so easily? In any case, it reflects poorly on
Sanjoy.
Vijay Narain wrote in to
say, "...yes there's a
demo by the name 'Aren't you clever' by a Mr. Special. Now
the specialty is that the demo opens as a .flp (FL studio
project file) in which the individual loops, waves and other
elements in the song sequence are present. This is for the
user to understand the power of the software. In our (A
Wednesday) case, the music director has used the power of
the software alone, and none else. He has simply muted the
audio track in the demo, added a new audio track (the Hindi
one) and exported in as a wav or mp3 file. In total, this
should take about 10 minutes. Even if FL studio provides the
buyer with rights for the demo, from an ethical point of
view, I think it is a crying shame for the composer!"
Anush Moorthy writes, "I
use FL studio regularly and have heard this demo track
sometime ago. It's very very easy to reuse it since the
guitar strumming is a wav file set which can easily be
pulled. In fact, listening to Sanjoy's version it seems that
he has just used the same .flp (Fl studio file) as is, with
a minimal beat addition. Again, this is very easy to do...he
has just removed the wav file which has the voice - just one
layer!"
89
90
Tennu le
& Aisa lashkara - Jai Veeru
(2009) <TC>
Composer:
Bappa Lahiri
Blatant lifts off Omar Inayat's You've got something and
Cheb Mami's Nos
Couleurs
The original,
sung (and lyrics) by Pakistani
singer Omar Inayat is nothing
but a mildly rehashed version of Omar's own composition from
his 2006 debut album,
Be The One. The original was titled, 'You've got
something'. Now, the CD sleeve of Jai Veeru credits just one
composer, Bappa Lahiri and merely credits Omar Inayat for
the vocals and lyrics of 'Tennu le'. That, my friends, is
THE problem. This is not Bappa's composition - he's merely
remixed it - and I'm not entirely sure what Omar gave
T-Series/ Jai Veeru's producers to be part of this
soundtrack, with no composing credits - his soul? Funnily
enough, there is an actual remix of this track, which lists
DJ Akhil Talreja as the remixer! So, how is this different
from Bappa's remix? This is plain terrible - here's a
talented Pakistani composer/ singer who is a fairly
successful in his home country and he goes on to sell his
composition to an Indian record label just like that?
Aisa Lashkara, sung by Hard Kaur and Rema
Lahiri (another from the Bappi clan?) is nothing but an
extraordinarily direct, note-to-note lift from Rai music
superstar (the other one, not Khaled), Cheb Mami's song, 'Nos
Couleurs' from his 2006 album, Layali. The lift is amazingly
brain-dead, almost like a translation with dead similar use
of the original's orchestration. The original of course, in
true Cheb Mami style is a rocking track, so its no wonder
Bappa decided to lift it oh-so-unabashedly.
91
Aaja gori
- Do Shikari
(1979) <TC>
Composer:
Chitragupt
Pitiable copy from Harry Belafonte's Coconut Woman
Towards the fag end of his career,
composing duo, Anand Milind's dad, Chitragupt unleashed
quite a few abominations on hapless listeners (and viewers
of those films). One of them was the 1979 track that
goes, 'Hey hey…jamburi ja ke jambu….aa ja
gori dil mein rakh le tujhe', sung, again, very
enthusiastically by Kishore Kumar. Alas, the tune is a
mishmash of a popular Harry Belafonte number from 1963
called 'Coconut Woman'. Its one those of those completely
mindless lifts where the composer seems to have left the
'composing' to his minions and the trusted record player.
92
Pehle to
meri -
Mere Khwabon Mein
Jo Aaye
(2009) <TC>
Composer:
Lalit Sen
Lifted
from Turkish pop superstar Serdar
Ortac's song, 'Sor' (meaning, 'ask') from the 2006 album,
Mesafe
This song
is an unabashed lift from Turkish pop superstar Serdar
Ortac's song, 'Sor' (meaning, 'ask') from the 2006 album,
Mesafe (meaning, 'distance'). This is one of Lalit usual,
braindead lifts and warrants no further sarcastic comment.
But,
Sedar Ortac rings a strong bell for me personally - I
actually had a cassette (tape) of Ortac's 1996 album, 'Yaz
Yağmuru' back in the late 90s. I have no idea who gave that
to me/ how I got it, but I used to love the songs in it. I
saw the Ankara address in the tape and assumed it was
Turkish but knew nothing more about Ortac. Much as I know
nothing about how I got it, I really do not know how I lost
it either! Strange huh?
93
Hands Up Johnny - Bandhan Kachche Dhaagon Ka
(1983) <TC>
Composer:
Hemant Bhosle
Inspired by Ottawan's 1981 track, 'Hands Up (Give Me Your
Heart)
So, Bappi Lahiri is not the only
Bollywood composer to lift Ottawan (Jimmy Jimmy from Disco
Dancer, 1982, was a lift from Ottawan's T'es OK, T'es Bath,
1980). Perhaps seeking inspiration from Bappi, another
little known composer, Hemant Bhosle, lifted another Ottawan
track (irony is that they're known only for 3 hit disco
songs!), 'Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)' that they released
as a single in 1981. Hemant's version, called 'Hands Up
Johnny', was sung by Asha Bhosle, Usha Uthap and Suresh
Wadkar for the 1983 film, Bandhan Kachche Dhaagon Ka,
starring Shashi Kapoor, Zeenat Aman and Raakhee. The Hindi
version is quite corny; it uses every possible disco sound
known to mankind back in 1983 for a really long, extended
prelude and has Usha Uthup singing almost the same tune of
Ottawan's original when the actual song starts. The
video is even more corny - it has Kalpana Iyer, in 80s
level minimal clothing, in a jungle camp set-up studio set
and is better seen than explained any further. Quite campy
and a must watch!
94
Dilrubaon ke jalwe & Tu jo jaan le - Dulha Mil Gaya
(2009) <TC>
Composer:
Lalit Pandit
Dilrubaon ke jalwe is a lift from Pakistani singer Fakhr-e-alam's song, 'Husn
waalon se poocho', while Tu jo jaan le is lifted off
Malaysian pop singer Jay Jay's 'Cukuplah Sekali'.
Lalit Pandit, once part of Jatin
Lalit, is back to his old ways again, without Jatin to share
the dubious discredit. His latest soundtrack is for the
forever-delayed, Shah Rukh Khan guest-starrer, Dulha Mil
Gaya. One of the songs in the soundtrack, sung by Amit
Kumar, in his Amitabh-mode, is 'Dilrubaon ke jalwe'. The
song is an unabashed lift from Pakistani singer Fakhr-e-Alam's
song, 'Husn waalon se poocho', that was part of his 2001
album, 'Falam Connection'. Its as blatant as it gets - the
fast paced, qawali'ish track has literally been used as-is
with no credit to Fakhr-e-Alam in the Dulha Mil Gaya CD.
Fakhr-e-Alam has been talking about a possible Indian launch
forever, if you do a search about the artist and I'm sure
this kind of an entry isn't what he had in his mind.
Just when you thought Lalit Pandit (one of the Jatin-Lalit
duo) was getting ready to breathe easy again after
now-forgotten
Pakistani singer Fakhr-e-Alam's plagiarism allegations,
here he is, in big trouble again. For another lift, in the
same film - Dulha Mil Gaya. The song is 'Tu Jo Jaan Le' sung
brilliantly by Sonu Nigam. It is lifted off Malaysian singer
Jay Jay's 80s song, 'Cukuplah Sekali'. Lalit Pandit,
however, seems to have racked his brains to add something of
his own to the lift and off he goes, adding the racy, 'Tu jo
jaan le' portion that you wouldn't find in the original.
But, for the rest of the song's mukhda, it is ditto...all
the melodic twists and highs are maintained as-is. Now, if
only Jay Jay and Fakhr-e-Alam joined hands and sued Lalit
Pandit together...sigh! Thanks
to Irfan Patel for the info on this lift.
95
Mujhe teri - Paathshaala
(2010) <TC>
Composer:
Hanif Shaikh
Mujhe Teri:
Timro Tyo:
Mujhe Teri is sung by Tulsi Kumar, while
there are 2 more names that adorn its credit - Akansha Lama
and Hanif Shaikh. Now, Hanif Shaikh is the composer of this
soundtrack and has done a good job. But, who is Akansha Lama
and why doesn't she seem to be anywhere in the song? Another
curious fact is that this is the only song in the soundtrack
that has a co-composer credit...to someone named Vijay Lama.
Who is he?
The truth is, this song is originally a Nepali song titled,
'Timro Tyo', composed by a Nepali pilot, Bijay Lama and sung
by his daughter, Akansha Lama! Hanif Shaikh has got Tulsi
Kumar to re-sing this song and has given co-composer credit
to the original composer and also added a 'special thanks
to' to some people including Akansha and Vijay. When you
listen to both songs, they're almost exactly similar, but
Hanif could claim that he has worked on some portions of it.
So, co-composer is a fair term. But, if the idea was to
legally credit the composer, it should ideally say, 'Based
on an original composition, Timro Tyo, by Bijay Lama' - that
is not the case here. What's worse is that the original
singer, Akansha Lama is credited but it's Tulsi Kumar who
hogs the track completely. So, if Bijay and Akshana had some
idea to gain some recognition out of this Bollywood
connection - forget it...nobody would even care or wonder.
96
Title song
-
Marte Dam Tak (1987) <TC>
Composer:
Ravindra Jain
Lifted from the
Pakistani song, Chand Key Na Kar Sinay
Wal.
Chhodenge na hum:
Chand Key Na Kar:
The 1987 Govinda,
Rajkumar, Farha starrer, Marte Dam Tak was what legendary
potboilers were made of. It strangely had music by a
relatively milder man - Ravindra Jain. While the soundtrack
had rare gems like 'Dheere dheere kholungi main', sung by
Alisha Chinai and...brace yourself...Shakti Kapoor, the
title song by Mohd Aziz and Anuradha Paudwal is quite
famous. Unfortunately, Ravindra Jain seems to have sought a
lot from a Pakistani (Seraiki,
to be geographically right!) singer Attaullah Khan
Esakhelvi's original track titled, 'Chand Key Na Kar Sinay
Wal'. The original's year is known given how prolific
Attaullah Khan was. The lift is direct and even Mohd Aziz
seems to have made some effort to sound like the Pakistani
singer!
97
Munni Badnaam Hui
(2010) <TC>
Composer:
Lalit Pandit
Assorted sources.
Munni badnaam:
Launda badnaam (Rani Bala):
Bonus: Launda badnaam (Rock Dancer) Not connected, tune-wise.
Bonus #2: Another local version of the same original, composed by Yusuf Khan and
sung by Hamid Chisti Jabalpuri and Tee Parveen. This is from a 2006 album called
'Hasina Hindustani'!
The first announcement is to clear
poor Sajid Wajid's name - they did not get the credit
for composing the latest national preoccupation - Munni badnaam hui, from
Dabaang, that
even Vidhu Vinod Chopra is humming the song around his house! The song is
credited to Lalit Pandit...half of Jatin-Lalit. And yes, it is lifted. Rather a
folk lift that is not appropriately credited...much like Ismal Darbar's Nimbuda
from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. The source of this chartbuster seems to be a bawdy,
folksy Bhojpuri number titled, 'Launda badnaam hua naseeban tere liye', sung by
Rani Bala. The music of this folk track is credited to Ghulam Dastgeer Khan and
the album titled, 'Balma Bada Bavaali' stars Rampat Harami and Rani Bala, at
least per
this site, where the song is streamed. The same lyrics were used by Bappi
Lahiri in an altered version in Rock Dancer, for the Javed Jaffrey featuring
song, 'Launda badnaam hua laundiya tere liye'. Lalit's Munni is closer to the
source in terms of tune, even though it has been supremely spruced up and very
modern oomph. It'd have been extremely graceful and honest of Lalit to have
credited the folk source for his Munni, but with so many spectacular lifts to
their name (as Jatin Lalit) that is one heck of an impossible ask!
Looks like even the local, Bhojpuri version I referred to
earlier seems to have been flicked off this Pakistani
original, at least going by the release dates. The Bhojpuri
number came out in 1998, while the Pakistani film in which
the original is featured, Mr. Charlie, came out in 1992. The
news is now out in
Mumbai Mirror today, but what it fails to inform is the composers of the
original track. The song was not composed by Pakistani comedian Umer Sharif
himself - it was merely picturised on him since he's the film's hero. The song's
composers were Kamal Ahmed and M Arshad, while Umer wrote the lyrics.
But one critical question: Considering the popularity of Indian (Hindi) films in
Pakistan and also taking into fact that Dabangg is a hugely successful film (Munni..
itself being a massively popular song), what was Umar Sherif doing all this
while, till Mumbai Mirror called and pointed the similarity to him? Hasn't he
heard Munni so far, on his own? Or, doesn't he remember his own song?
98
Thodi der ke liye - Film: Akeli Mat
Jayyo
(1963) <TC>
Composer:
Madan Mohan
From Hernando's
Hideaway by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.
Thodi der ke liye:
Hernando's Hideaway:
One of my favorite composers, Madan
Mohan, thankfully has rather limited entries in ItwoFS. I
feel terrible in adding one to that limited list, but duty
beckons...what to do? The Madan Mohan song in question is
the 1963 number, Thodi der ke liye mere ho jao, from the
film Akeli Mat Jaiyo. The song was sung by Asha Bhosle and
featured killer cabaret type moves from Minoo Mumtaz, who,
incidentally, did you know, was Mehmood's sister? The tune
of the song was highly inspired, to the extent of calling it
a copy, from 'Hernando's Hideaway', a well known show tune
from the musical, The Pajama Game, that was written by
Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It first came out in 1954, but
one of it's most famous versions was by Archie Bleyer, in
the same year. There are
many other recordings/versions of
this song down the years.
99
Barf khushi hai - Film: Ek Ajnabee
(2005) <TC>
Composer:
Amar Mohile
From Cuban singer
Carlos Varela's 'Una Palabra'.
Barf khushi hai:
Una palabra:
When Apoorva Lakhia lifts, he
lifts lock, stock and barrel, it seems. While he was
unabashedly open about his 2005 film, Ek Ajnabee, being
lifted from Tony Scott's 2004 Denzel Washinton film, Man on
fire, he seemed to have used more than the film's script or
scenes. So, as if those lifts were not enough, he also uses
a song from the film's soundtrack - Cuban singer Carlos
Varela's 'Una Palabra'. He has got composer Amar Mohile to
recreate the song with some Hindi'ish changes, as 'Barf
khushi hai', sung by Kailash Kher. Lovely original song and
reasonably interesting adaptation too - just that, it lacks
proper credit.
100
My Name Is Sheila (Tees Maar
Khan)
When I got this lead from Vaibhav Vishal, I was indeed skeptical. After all, how
can it be that
obvious - a song called 'Sweet Little Sheila' being the source of India's new
chartbuster item song seemed too convenient. So, I tried a little experiment - I
have done this earlier on Twitter, but given how curiously obvious this one
seemed, I posted it in Milliblog, with no mention whatsoever but just a
question, 'What do you think?'. It evoked a lot of interesting responses - many
were stunned; some, like Sonnenlicht, questioned my tactic of posting it there
to gauge responses (rightfully so, since it was a first, if you ignore my
similar attempts on Twitter), while Vishal himself had some observations to make
as well.
I have read all that there is to read. Here's what I think.
First, this is not a tune lift, in my opinion. And, if the Modern Talking song
had any other lady's name apart from Sheila, I wouldn't even have given it
another chance - but, there are 2 levels of similarities here. One, the
stunningly obvious name - 'Sheila'. And second, the brief, but definite
similarity between part of the hook - 'Her name is Sheila' and 'My name is
Sheila'. Of course, the fact that the rest of the 2 songs are vastly different
should also be taken into consideration, but 2 such large instances of
connection are more than adequate to warrant an entry in ItwoFS, in my opinion -
not in the coincidences or trivia section, but in the main composer's section.
Modern Talking's song, 'Sweet Little Sheila' seems to have nothing to do,
tune-wise, with Tommy Roe's 1962 hit single of the same title and features in
their 1986 album, 'In the Middle of Nowhere'.
That said, Sonnenlicht, in his scathing indictment of my asking other's opinion
(in this case) also posed a valid question - would I consider seeking opinions
from other composers as well, before adding their songs on ItwoFS. Good point -
my only answer is that Vishal chose to respond. Many other newer composers are
online and if they did not choose to connect with me (my email ID is right there
on top - visibly; there is a reason why I've made and maintained this site as a
website, with no commenting, and not like a blog), so be it. So, in short, no, I
do not intend to seek opinions before sharing my opinion on ItwoFS - not in this
case (it was intended to gauge Milliblog and ItwoFS readers' opinions) and not
in any other case. If composers choose to respond, I'd more than gladly amplify
it and connect it to the song in question. Like in this case -
do read Vishal Dadlani's response, here. Listen to
My name of Sheila:
Sweet Little Sheila:
101
Teri Meri (Bodyguard, 2011 -
Himesh Reshammiya)
The original is called 'La Betleem colo-n jos' and is massively popular as a
Romanian Chritmas carol with origins in the 15th century. Just one search on
YouTube will land you tons of variants and the most popular, recent version
seems to be by the world's "youngest person ever to score commercial success as
a singer" at the age of 3 (!!!) -
Cleopatra Stratan. Her 2009 album 'Crăciun Magic' (Magic Christmas) includes
a variant of this song too! I've included 2 versions of the original for
comparison - one performed by Corala Armonia in Toronto and another, an
uncredited solo off YouTube.
Technically, a 15th century song may not need any specific crediting and could
ideally called as being in the 'public domain' for anyone to adapt. I completely
buy that logic, but I have always believed that plagiarism is a question of
intent, and less a point about royalty. The intent is what comes through when a
composer does not (choose to) credit his source - it seems like he wants to pass
it off as his own composition, as against being brave enough to credit his
source and let people appreciate his inventive adaptation.
Update: It looks like
Himesh could
share discredit for this lift along with none other than Salman Khan.
Listen to
Teri Meri:
La Betleem colo-n jos (Corala Armonio):
La Betleem colo-n jos:
102
Jalwanuma (Ghost, 2011 -
Sharib-Toshi)
Composing duo Sharib-Toshi have a fairly unblemished record so far, in their
limited run in Bollywood. So, it comes across as a surprise that their new
catchy song from Ghost, 'Jalwanuma' seems massively influenced from a song by
Amr Diab, that Middle eastern God of Indian film music! Yes, Jalwanuma contains
a lot of references to Diab's 'Khalik Maaya' from his 2007 album 'El Leila De'.
The main hook in Hindi seems to be inspired by the main instrumental hook in the
original while the rest of the tune seems to use a flow similar (but with
Hindi'ish variations) to Diab's song.
Listen to Jalwanuma:
Khalik Maaya:
103
Yeh jism (Jism
2, 2012 -
Arko Pravo Mukherjee)
So, the title song, 'Yeh jism' was part of the trailer and the credit for the
song went to a composer named Arko Pravo Mukherjee. Mahesh Bhatt introduced Arko with, 'enchants us with his outstanding tunes'.
The only niggling issue is that the song credited to Arko in the trailer belongs
to Turkish pop singer (yes, another Turkish singer after Tarkan hits India via
the plagiarism route - good for world music, no?) Kayahan. The original is
called 'Bizimkisi bir aşk hikayesi' and this song was part of Kayahan's 2003
album 'Ne Oldu Can' (What happened, my life).
The song itself has a standard Latino tune, oversung by Ali Azmat in the Hindi
version, much like Kahayan's original. Arko smoothens parts of the song to make
it seem well-rounded and adds the trademark lone, melancholic Bhatt-violin that
all Bhatt-composers are usually (perhaps) forced to add as a Bhattouch. But it
largely stays true to Kahayan's original - so much that the net is abuzz with
the lift in just a day though I heard about it first from a message on
Milliblog's Facebook page by Yumlembam Roshan.
Listen to
Yeh Jism: Bizimkisi Bir:
104
Deewana kar
raha hai (Raaz 3, 2012 -
Rashid Khan)
Raaz 3's 'Deewana kar raha hai' is not composed by the main composer
of the soundtrack, Jeet Ganguly. Instead, this song is created to Rashid Khan.
It could well be credited to Egyptian singer Mohamed Hamaki since his song, 'Ana
Lao Azeto' forms the base for the Hindi song. The original is from Mohamed
Hamaki's album titled Naweeha (2008).
As usual, there are minor changes in Hindi, but the original can be identified
very easily. Rashid uses pauses very effectively to break the first 3 lines of
the original into almost 6 smaller portions, while the way he extends the word 'Sunehra'
by focusing on 'neh' is a catchy deviation from the original. Alas... all these
don't make the Hindi version original - just listen to them both back-to-back
and marvel at the Bhatt ingenuity!
Listen to
Deewana kar raha hai: Ana Lao Azeto:
105
Love ki
ghanti (Besharam, 2013 -
Lalit Pandit)
the most recognizable part of the song -
Love Ki Ghanti - is lifted off the Italian song Bella Ciao!
The original is a legendary Italian revolutionary song named
Bella Ciao. Interestingly, the
original composer of Bella Ciao remains unknown, though recently, Bella Ciao's
roots have been traced to a Jewish song titled 'Koilen' that was first recorded by
Mishka Ziganoff in 1919.
Listen to
Love ki ghanti: Bella Ciao (original): Koilen: