I was thinking for a long time, what should be my next review. I have written on a lot of topics but music remains my favorite. So I decided to write on “Five best Classical Songs”. When I was gathering the data, refreshing my memory, I got the suggestion to write on this topic by my dear friend matwalaboy – Mayank Bhaisaab. I liked the idea and as I know many a songs who are directly copied, I found it interesting to pen them down. Thus I dedicate this review of mine to Mayank Bhai, the original adman of MouthShut.
First of all, I would like to clarify the difference between inspiration and copying. When you listen a song, like it and try to make something like that(by using one or two tunes from the original) is inspiration. When you do not want to work, simply lift up a melodious tune, and copy it into your own song is copying. Creative inspiration is not always wrong. Sometimes you get to listen great songs due to this creative inspiration. Copying in any sense is wrong and should not be done.
Thus I have decided to write a review on “Copied Songs” in the Indian Music Industry. So here is my list….
1. Itna Ma Mujhse Tu Pyaar Badha
Movie – Chhaya
Music Director – Salil Choudhary
Original Composition – Mozart’s 40th Symphony
The song is beautiful and so is the original symphony. The “mukhda” of the song is clearly copied from Mozart’s piece. The “antara” has certain ups and downs which, if you listen carefully, can be compared with the original score.
2. Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaaye
Movie – Jurm
Music Director – Rajesh Roshan
Original Composition – 500 miles by Kingston Trio
The famous song by Kumar Sanu is inspired. Roshan da, after composing music for nearly 15 years decided to copy a country song as it is into a romantic number. You can find a lot of similarities between these two songs.
3. Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast
Movie – Mohra
Music Director – Viju Shah
Original Composition – Dam Mast Qalandar by Ustaad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
The song that took the audience on their feet in the mid 1994, who can forget the famous dance sequence of this song. At that time, Ustaadji was less famous than he is now and Viju Shah took full advantage of the fact. Result – A sufiana song sung in the praise of the lord gave birth to a c song with somewhat cheap https://lyrics. Viju has copied even the interludes, rhythms and instrumentation from the original number.
4. Chhookar Mere Mann Ko
Movie – Yaarana
Music Director – Rajesh Roshan
Original Composition – Rabindra Sangeet – Tomar Holo Shuru amar
This song made Rajesh Roshan. Thus indirectly Rajesh Roshan started up his career by copying a famous song from the Rabindra Sangeet. This song was already sung by Hemanta Mukherjee(Hemant Kumar) alongwith Lata Mangeshkar for his album “Aami Phirbo Na”. An absolute copy.
5. Jhanjhariya
Movie – Krishna
Music Director – Anu Malik
Original Composition – Jhanjhariya by Anand Raj Anand. Album – Babu Tip Top
Those were the days when Anand Raj Anand was a struggling music director. In early 1995, he released an album by the name Babu Tip Top which featured his composition Jhanjhariya. He never know that Anu Malik had sharp eyes for plagiarism. Anu Malik copied the same song as it is, with same music, same lyrics except for the same singer, for his 1996 movie Krishna. This is the height of plagiarism.
6. Tere Dar Par Sanam
Movie – Phir Teri Kahaani Yaad Aayi
Music Director – Anu Malik
Original Composition – Tere Dar Par Sanam by Mazhar Firdaus
Anu Malik at his worst. He started his career way back in 1984 with movie “Sohni Mahiwal” but tasted real success with Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi. I always admired this song from the movie but recently I found out that this song has been copied from Pakistani singer Mazhar Firdauss’s song. I managed to get the original song and found out that Anu has copied every bit of the original. Shameful work indeed.
7. Zehreeli Raaten
Movie – Chocolate
Music Director – Pritam
Original Composition – Aadat by Jal
Pritam at his plagiarism best. He knows that he lacks in talent which anyone can witness easily. He has composed for 3-4 films only and the sound has started looking monotonous. Now what to do to innovate. The answer is simple. Copy a song from across the border which is the simplest thing to do as Pakistan still believes in melody rather than disco. He copied Aadat straight away. His version of the song was flat without any expressions and literally he wasted a singer of KKs caliber. Thankfully for the audience, the original version has been included in the movie Kalyug.
8. Aate Jaate
Movie – Maine Pyar Kiya
Music Director – Ram Laxman
Original Composition – I Just Called by Stevie Wonder
No marks for guessing the right answer. Nearly everyone knows the original song. The situation is perfect for Deep Purple’s song “When the blind man cries”. This song is an exact replica of Stevie’s song without missing a single part of it.
I have included only those songs in my list whose source has been in the dark for a long time. I know many other popular songs as well but you all know their sources. I wanted to put light on these unknown or lesser known plagiarism and hence my list.
There are a lot of other songs as well which are as a result of direct copying. If I start writing on them, may be I will have to write 100s of reviews. So I a quoting a few more just for your interest:
1. Ae Dil Laaya Hai bahar, Movie – Kya Kehna. Inspired from N. Sedaka’s Oh Carol.
Dil Mera Churaya Kyun, Movie – Akele Hum Akele Tum. Inspired from Wham’s Last Christmas.
Shawa Ye Nakhra Ladki Ka, Movie – Suhaag. Inspired from Hassan Jehangir’s Shawa Ye Nakhra Gori Ka.
Mera Piya Ghar Aaya, Movie – Yaarana. Inspired from Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s qawwali of the same name.
Loye Loye, Movie – Yaarana. Inspired from Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s qawwali of the same name.
Yahan Ke Hum Sikandar, Movie Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. Inspired from famous rock band The Who’s Pinball Wizard.
So that was my list. And now my invitation to you all –
Himanshu Joshi aka madsadman cordially invites you all to add the songs which I have not included in my list. You can do so by adding your song in the comments section.
And now for trivia - Movie “Sabse bada Khiladi” has the record of having most number of plagiarized songs in one movie. Songs “Muqabala Ha Pyar Ka”(Inspired from tamil song “Mukkala Muqabala”), “Bholi Bhali Ladki”(Inspired from tamil song “Bothai Irri Pochu”), “Har Dil Mein Hai Rab Basta”(Inspired from Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Ali Da Malang”) and “Bharo Maang Meri Bharo”(Inspired from Enigma’s “Mea Culpa”) raise the tally of copied songs in the same movie to 4, which is the highest till date.
Waiting for your feedback –
Himanshu aka madsadman
