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Deva [Tamil]

 
1
I love you [Film: Citizen] <TC>
Copied from Sasha's 'I feel lonely' 
Listen to I love you | I feel lonely
Ditto!
2
Hey keechu kiliye [Film: Mugavari] <TC>
Ripped off from Dr Alban's 'Enemies' track.
Listen to Hey keechu kiliye | Enemies
Ditto. But Deva has done a commendable job in the subsequent paras, good work.
3
Poo virinjaachu [Film: Mugavari] <TC>
Lifted from the song 'That thing you do' from the OST of the film with the same name!
Listen to Poo virinjaachu | That thing you do
Ditto. Shameless!
4
Akila Akila [Film: Nerukku Ner] <TC>
From Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier!
Listen to Akila akila | Buffalo soldier
Ditto. Shameless!
5
Thilothama [Film: Aasai] <TC>
Partially inspired from Ofra Azha's 'Galbi'
Listen to Thilothama | Galbi
Very well inspired! The tune has been worked upon pretty well.
6
Thudikindra kaadhal...evar kandaar [Film: Nerukku Ner] <TC>
Partially inspired from Ofra Azha's 'Im nin alu'
Listen to Evar kandaar | Im nin alu
This is the 2nd film with Deva composing for Vasanth. My guess is that Vasanth is a fan of Ofra Azha and rubbed it on Deva!
7
Oh sona [Film: Vaalee] <TC>
Inspired from 2 sources! Almost the entire song is inspired by the classic 'Suzanna' by The Art Company. The second interlude is a direct lift of Francis Lai's theme music for the movie 'Love Story' (also sung by Andy William's as 'Where do I begin').
Listen to Oh sona | Suzanna | Where do I begin
One of the all-time classic lifts of Deva. A very beautiful job indeed! Fits so well in Tamil!
8
Mudhal mudhalil [Film: Aahaa] <TC>
Ditto from Nadeem Shravan's 'Sochenge tumhe pyaar' from the movie Deewana
Listen to Mudhal mudhalil | Sochenge tumhe
Deva at it again!
9
Ee Manase [Film: Tholi Prema - Telugu] <TC>
Partly inspired from the Dr Alban number 'Alabalaba'
Listen to Ee manase | Alabalaba
One of the most authentic use of an original song. Deva has beautifully worked on this number, the 2nd para sounds brilliant and is original too. But could've avoided the use of the word 'alabalaba' even in Telugu. A sure give-away!
10
Pul veli [Film: Aasai]
Minor copy. A guitar piece lifted from Rod Stewart's 'Maggie May'.
Listen to Pul veli | Maggie May
Just a guitar piece! Listen carefully from 03:54:05 onwards in Maggie May.
11
Meenamma [Film: Aasai]
Beats inspired from Genesis's song 'Mama'
Listen to Meenamma | Mama
Beats lifted!
12
Oh vennila [Film: Kushi] <TC>
Lifted from Portugese 'fado' singer Dulce Pontes' 'Cancao do mar' number!
Listen to Oh vennila | Cancao do mar
'Cancao do mar' was also included in the OST of the Richard Gere starrer Primal Fear. Deva is one composer who gets all these amazing world music acts to India, consistently!
Also listen to
the Hindi version Ai Ajnabee [Deewangi (2002), with music by Ismail Darbar]
13
Velai velai [Film: Avvai Shanmugi] 
Partly inspired from 2Unlimited's Workaholic! Note that the theme of both songs is about overworking! Interesting eh?
Listen to velai velai | workaholic
Inspired! And Deva knows English, for sure!
14
Aval varuvala [Film: Nerukku ner] 
A small refrain 'get up stand up', from Bob Marley's 'Get up stand up' number is used in the tamil song. The rest of the song seems to be original!
Listen to Aval varuvala | Get up stand up
Deva gets the benefit of doubt this time!
15
Hello good morning toshiba [Film: Priyamudan] <TC>
Copied from Boney M's Brown girl in the ring!
Ran out of comments, actually!
16
Poove nee aadava [Film: Kalki (1997)] <TC>
Lifted from Kenny G's 'Against Doctor's orders' (1988)!
Listen to Poove nee aadava | Against Doctor's Orders
The similarity might not become apparent initially, but when you do trace it out, you tend to go...'hey...oh no...' and so on!
17
Meri jaan [Film: Panchathanthiram (2002)] <TC>
Inspired by the 1947 Hindi number 'Meri Jaan...sunday ke sunday', by C Ramchandra from the movie 'Shehnai'!
Listen to Meri jaan (Tamil) | Mari jaan (Hindi)
Incidentally, this song was also made hugely popular when it was used in an national advertisement campaign to promote the usage of eggs by National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), a couple of years back!
18
Allu allu [Film: Bhagavathy (2002)] <TC>
Lifted off Hisham Abbas' 'Nari Narain'.
Listen to Allu allu | Nari Narain
Deva does it again!
19
Manmadha leelai [Film: Panchathanthiram (2001)] 
Partly influenced by Linkin Park's 'Points of authority'!
Listen to Manmadha leelai | Points of Authority
Who would have ever thought Tamil composer Deva listens to genres as diverse as 'Nu-metal'? But looks like he has!
Trivia Note: 'Nu-metal' is synonymous with a skating sub-culture where followers dress in: ' ...voluminous black hooded tops, ordinarily featuring the name of their favourite band; jeans so wide and long that they sweep the grime from the pavement; an abundance of chains, on which hang keys and wallets; and, for the true believers, pierced lips, noses and eyebrows' (The Independent, 11 December 2001). This sub-culture and music style is immensely popular with teenagers!!
20
Title song 'Kannai kasakkum' [Film: Red (2002)] 
The entire prelude lifted directly off Den Harrow's 'Catch the fox'!
Listen to Red Title song | Catch the fox
Strange that Deva didn't lift the actual tune! Another interesting aspect is a particular piece of music in the Den Harrow original, that was also used by Deva, by virtue of it being a direct lift! Now, Harry Anand's remix of the R D Burman oldie from Caravan (1971), 'Chadti Jawani' also had the exact same piece as an interlude!! 
Listen to Chadti Jawani interlude
About Den Harrow: Den Harrow (born Manuel Stefano Carry) was 7 when he learnt how to play piano and guitar. He moved to Italy when he was 4 or 5. While in college, together with his producers who were DJ's in a nearby disco, his artistic pseudonym was chosen, Den Harrow (originated from Italian word, 'denaro' that stands for money). His two first songs: "To Meet Me" and "A Taste Of Love" became quite popular in South European countries. His other chartbusters include his first official single 'Mad desire', 'Bad boy', 'Charleston' and 'Catch The Fox'. In 1989 he released his third album 'Lies' that attracted the attention of German's BMG/Ariola, earning more than 19 million German Marks. Adidas and Coca Cola hired him for their commercials. In 1992 he signed a new contract with German label Polydor and released his fourth album 'All I Want Is You' produced by Jennifer Rush and Natalie Cole. 1993 saw him releasing his fifth album 'Real Big Love' that was produced by Natalie Cole.
21
Carolina [Film: Kadhal Sadugudu (2003)] 
Lifted from Dr.Alban's 'Guess who's coming to dinner'!
Listen to Carolina | Guess who's coming to dinner
Here's another Dr Alban lift by Tamil composer Deva, after his successful lifts in Tholi Prema (Alabalaba) and Mugavari (Enemies) - Its the usual Deva'ish direct lift with bland improvisation. In fact, the lifts in Tholi Prema and Mugavari have fantastic inputs by Deva and sound very unique. Dr Alban's original (released in 1997, as a single) is called 'Guess who's coming to dinner' and he collaborated with the 'Black Uhuru' legend, Michael Rose for this duet. Dr Alban's version itself was a remake of a Black Uhuru song of the same name, though Dr Alban's track is much more similar to Deva's Tamil version.
About Black Uhuru: Black Uhuru was the leading second generation reggae vocal groups, and was formed in Jamaica in 1974 by Euvin "Don Carlos" Spencer, Rudolph "Garth" Dennis, and Derrick "Duckie" Simpson. These three grew up in the famed "Waterhouse" district of Kingston, Jamaica (a hot bed for reggae artists over the years). After a couple of years the group as it was originally known grew apart as Don Carlos went on to a solo career, and Garth Dennis went on to sing with another of the great Waterhouse group, the Wailing Souls. Duckie Simpson continued to work under the Black Uhuru name (Uhuru means Freedom in the Swahili language of Africa), and he enlisted an up and coming singer, Michael Rose, and Errol Jay's Wilson to record the "Love Crisis" album with producer Prince Jammys (then a protege of the famed pioneering reggae producer, King Tubbys).
22
Vandhenda paalkaaran [Film: Annamalai (1992)] 
Based on the famous Marathi song, 'Mi Dolkar Dariyacha Raja'!
Listen to
Vanthenda Paalkaaran:
Mi Dolkar Dolkar:
I usually do not add intra-India inspirations/lifts - from one state to another. It is largely because the source and dates get messy and in case of folk songs the source itself is difficult to trace and assign ownership to. But this one was irresistible! This song is generally hailed as one of the 3 best introduction songs for Rajinikanth, along with Baasha's Naan Aautokaran and Muthu's Oruvan Oruvan. And it is amazing to note that composer Deva actually based it on an iconic Marathi song. Yes, I'm referring to Annamalai's 'Vanthenda Paalkaaran' that seems obviously based on the famous Marathi song, 'Mi Dolkar Dariyacha Raja'! It is fascinating to see how Deva has 'used' the song to create his Tamil version - the opening chorus in the original is retained as the mukhda in the Tamil version, while the actual mukhda of the original becomes the 2nd line - very clever version!
 


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
 

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