PLAGIARISM

PLAGIARISM – For better or worse???

While coming down to office today, I found myself humming a sweet number – Pal Pal Pal Pal Har Pal Har Pal… Oh no, not again!!! It has been over a week now that I am continually humming the same number. And why… simply because the tune is catchy enough. But drilling down the memory lane, I can easily remember those days when I used to cycle down to school and hum the same tune… How come? Coz this tune is basically Cliff Richard’s Theme For A Dream (1961). So what the Indian Cinema thinks is kudos to Shantanu Moitra is actually a hats-off to The Great British Singles Chart-Topper.

But a deep thought forces me to think whether this plagiarism is really bad… For I was sure I had almost forgotten the original number at the time the Hindi tune refreshed my memory. So, it did me good… Now I have one more song to sing at parties… :)

Well, remotely related to this, I always remember something that my father, a professor in Physics, has taught me – Old and proven things can always be used as tools to find out new things!!! As a very blunt example, say if you want to know the length of the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle, you need not begin from scratch – prove Pythagoras Theorem – and proceed. You can just use the formula and take the next step. Is that plagiarism as well??? Moitra took the basic theme and used it to create an advanced model… Introduced a few changes – An Ultra Suprano Effect, varying rhythms at chorus and stanzas… and so on, to recreate a melodious number.

So where lies the thin line of difference between inspiration and plagiarism??? Hamlet wonders…

A few well known “inspired” numbers in Hindi Cinema

Re-made Song	Composer	Year	Original Composition	Composer	Year
Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badha (Chhaya)	Salil Chowdhary	1961	40th Symphony	Mozart	1788
Mere Rang Mein (Maine Pyar Kiya)	Raam Laxman	1989	The Final Countdown	Europe	1986
Aate Jaate (Maine Pyar Kiya)	Raam Laxman	1989	I just called to say	Stevie Wonder	1984
Sochna Kya (Ghayal)	Bappi Lahiri	1990	Lambada	Kaoma	1989
Jab koi baat bigad Jaaye (Jurm)	Rajesh Roshan	1990	A hundred miles	Peter, Paul & Mary	1962
O mere sapno ke saudagar (Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahi)	Nadeem Shravan	1991	Bachelor Boy	Cliff Richard	1963
Dole Dole Dil (Baazi)	Anu Malik	1995	Theme Music of Come September	Bobby Darin	1961
Nazarein Mili (Raja)	Nadeem Shravan	1995	Theme Music of Come September	Bobby Darin	1961
Aisa Zakhm Diya hai (Akele Hum Akele Tum)	Anu Malik	1995	Child in Time	Deep Purple	1970
Dil mera Churaya Kyun (Akele Hum Akele Tum)	Anu Malik	1995	Last Christmas	WHAM	1984
Tu Wo Tu Hai (Beqabu)	Anu Malik	1996	Theme Music of The Good, The Bad and The ugly	Ennio Morricone	1966
Payal Meri (Rajkumar)	Laxmikant Pyarelaal	1996	Faith	George Michael	1987
Haseena Gori Gori (Tarazu)	Rajesh Roshan	1997	In the Summertime	Shaggy	1995
Oh Baby !! Don’t break my heart (Mohabbat)	Nadeem Shravan	1997	Oh Baby !! Don’t break my heart	Stereo Nation	1996
Dil le le lena (Auzaar)	Anu Malik	1997	Macarena	Los Del Rio	1995
Dil Maka Dina (Dhaal)	Anu Malik Again !!!	1998	Macarena	Los Del Rio	1995
Ek Shararat Hone ko Hai (Duplicate)	Anu Malik	1998	Slip and Slide	Laura Allen	1978
Koi nahi tere jaisa (Keemat)	Rajesh Roshan	1998	Cotton Eye Joe	Rednex	1994
Kya Kehna	Rajesh Roshan	2000	O Carol	Paul Anka	1959
Pretty Woman (Kal Ho Na Ho)	Shankar Ehsan Loy	2003	Pretty Woman	Roy Orbison	1964
Pal Pal Pal Pal (Lage Raho Munnabhai)	Shantanu Moitra	2006	Theme For a Dream	Cliff Richard	1961