The CNBC Panel discussion on plagiarism in Indian film music!

My co-panelists were...take a guess! Pritam, Anu Malik, noted copyright lawyer Praveen Anand and UTV head Ronnie Screwvala! I joined them from CNBC's Bangalore studio.

Karan Thapar chaired the discussion and was, for some reason, stuck on Hattrick's 'Wicket Bacha' and its seemingly direct similarity with Harry Belafonte's 1952 chartbuster 'Man smart (woman smarter)'! With all due respect to Karan, I felt that was an example completely off the mark. I'm with Pritam on this instance when he said Wicket bacha is in the calypso genre and not a direct tune lift. Couldn't agree with you more, Pritam!

Listen to Wicket bacha | Man smart (woman smarter) ...and decide for yourself!

Pritam was surprisingly shy and soft spoken, quite contrary to the image I had of him, in my mind. On the other hand Anu Malik was completely the opposite of what I had expected (mostly from his press interviews). He did hammer on his impressive track record, how he has survived many composers and generations through his hard work etc., which was typical of the persona we know from his interviews.

But surprisingly, when Karan asked him pointedly if he thinks itwofs.com is actually discrediting Indian composers, he actually disagreed and said, if anything, it inspires him to do more original work and he's happy that an online watchdog is keeping track. This he felt gave him the impetus to do original tunes! Not bad Anu, way to go! Great attitude!

Praveen made it clear that the whole set up is to blame and every one will be made responsible, right from the producer, director, composer, music publisher etc. if a copyright lawsuit were to happen. Watch the video of this panel discussion...check out the About ItwoFS page for video links!