Mera Cafe Mahan - Indian Song Lifterz

Allah Duhai [ Film : Race ] - Allah Duhai

2008-05-11T04:38:00.000-07:00

Allah Duhai Of The Film Race IS Very Similiar To The Ararbian Song Chicky Of Artist The Arabian Coalition . This Track Is Included In The Album Club Pasha . I Am Not Sure It's A Complete Lift But When You Will Here This Songs You Will Find It Very Similar To The Chicky Of Arabian Coalition . It Can Be Inspiration .

Listen To : Allah Duhai | Chicky Arabian Coalition

Trivia About Zara Zara Touch Me :

Zara zara is a result of generous inspiration from the Chinese track, 'Deep within the Bamboo grove' (Zhu Lin Shen Chu) by South east Asian singer Lee-Hom Wang (from his 2005 album, Shangri-La)

I Heard Very Similar Track To The Deep Within The Bamboo Groove . Song Is Called ' MVP Feat Stagga Lee - Rock Ya Body . May Be This Can Be Also Inspiration !

Listen To : MVP Feat Stagga Lee - Rock Ya Body

MVP - Rock Ya Body

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Bollywood turns a new leaf!

2008-05-09T22:25:00.001-07:00

Rajkumar Santoshi's latest, Halla Bol's teaser is out. And the teaser's music, along with the style of words depicted on screen seems to be causing a huge problem. Its so uncannily similar to the opening music and video of Van Halen's 'Right now'. The official composer of Halla Bol is Sukhwinder Singh. Wonder if he has anything to do with this teaser!
Watch Halla Bol teaser | Van Halen's Right Now

Bollywood turns a new leaf!

2008-05-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

Bollywood is turning over a new leaf! A recent news item says that Jab we met director Imtiaz Ali had used the track, 'Walking on sunshine' by the 80s group Katrina & The Waves for one of the promos of the film starring Shahid and Kareena Kapoor. Imtiaz had also planned to use the track as part of the background music, but he couldn't track the copyright owners of the song and actually decided to drop its usage altogether than risk a lawsuit later, as Karan Johar realized the hard way! Good going Imtiaz. The film rocks, btw!

Ottmar Liebert and Mera Cafe Mahan

2008-05-09T22:22:00.004-07:00

man, Liebert himself! He stumbled upon the fact that Pritam's Ankahee number 'Aa paas aa' is lifted off his 'Starry night' from this site. He also notes marginal, musical lifts in the remix of Khakee's 'Aisa jadoo'...the guitar in particular is close to his '2 the night'. But the influences are marginal and almost incidental, so I'm not too keen on even a trivia mention.

Aaja Nachle trivia!

2008-05-09T22:22:00.003-07:00

Aaja Nachle's plot seems to be inspired by the 2004 Swedish Academy Award nominated film, 'Så som i himmelen'! Take a look at Aaja Nachle's promo and then read about the Swedish film, in IMDB and Wikipedia! Interesting huh?

The title song seems to have paid homage to a Bengali folk song, 'Dada paye pori re', made popular by Anshuman Roy. Pradipto Das who wrote in with this fab piece of info notes that this folk track was first released in an album during the late 70s.
Listen to Aaja Nachle - Short promo tune | Nachle nachle | Dada paye pori re

Sue me, sue you!

2008-05-09T22:22:00.001-07:00

Here's some fantastic reading material - if you're a keen follower of music plagiarism across the globe. Carl Horowitz, in his recent write-up titled, 'Sue me, sue you' starts with Bruce Springsteen's latest single, 'Radio nowhere' and explains beautifully the dilemma in identifying music plagiarism given the limited sounds we humans work with. Makes for excellent read!

Hum to aise hai bhaiyya (Laaga Chunari mein daag)!

2008-05-09T22:12:00.003-07:00

Thanks to this track, we have discovered the source of 2 other Bappi Lahiri tracks (Bappi Lahiri page, listing number 20 and 21). The main refrain in this song has a fleeting similarity to the 1946 Calypso hit 'Mary Ann', lifted twice by Bappi da! But, as I mentioned, the similarity is fleeting and that's why I've added this in the Trivia page.
Listen to Hum to aise hain | Mary Ann

Saregama India Vs Timbaland!

2008-05-09T22:12:00.001-07:00

Saregama India was recently in the news over a lawsuit they had initiated against Timbaland and The Game for allegedly sampling one of their tracks in the song, 'Put you on the game' (YouTube Link) from The Game's 2005 album, 'The Documentary'. After the Dr.Dre/ Truth Hurts incident I was curious about the song in question and the amount of alleged lift. The Hindi song sampled is SD Burman's (or RD Burman's, depends on which version you believe!) Aradhana hit, 'Baagon mein bahaar hai'. The strangest thing is the length of the sample! It was the famous 'Na na na' part which is sung as the answer to Rajesh Khanna's cheeky third question! The sample is used more like an afterthought, towards the end of the song. A lawsuit for this seems quite amazing considering the treasure trove of lifted songs Saregama holds in their music bank - plagiarized by composers across the years. Just because our country doesn't care about copyright laws, Saregama seems to be safe. If at all our legal system gets slightly stronger on this front, I'm sure Saregama will in a massive soup!
Listen to Put you on the game (relevant edit) | Baagon mein

Pritam reusing his own tracks!

2008-05-09T22:11:00.003-07:00

CNN IBN ran a story recently, about our friend Pritam copying (?) his own song. I really fail to see the news value here. Pritam has done it so often that it sounds like a lame attempt to either manufacture news or defame Pritam. Further. For the record, Pritam has already lifted from his own soundtracks - not once, but as many as 4 times. 5, if you include this latest CNN IBN 'expose'!

So, Janmabhoomi (and its other variant, Zindagi hai to), from the 2004 Jimmy Shergill starrer, Agnipankh, became Bheega bheega sa in Chocolate (2005). Its quite a different issue that both the tunes were lifted off Abrar-ul-haq's original, 'December'.
Listen to Janmabhoomi | Zindagi hai to | Bheega bheega sa (Chocolate) | December (Abrar-ul-haq)

Again, another re-use from Agnipankh (Seems like Pritam loves this un-heard soundtrack!) is the track, Mera dil fida, that has been remodelled into Aa dil se dil in the recent Naqaab!
Listen to Mera dil fida | Aa dil se dil

Raghu Romeo's Strawberry hoon main (2003) becomes the slightly more popular Sania badnaam in Apna sapna money money (2006).
Listen to Strawberry hoon main | Sania badnaam

Jal jal ke from Ek khiladi ek haseena (2005) becomes Hai ishq, in Bas ek pal (2006). The small hitch here is that both have been lifted off Lebanese singer Yuri Mrakadi's Arabiyom ana (2001).
Listen to Jal jal ke | Hai ishq | Arabyion Ana

And, to round off the list,
Listen to Aye dil (Naqaab) | Bolo (Aria)

Some list, this!

Heyy Babyy teaser and Maroon 5!

2008-05-09T22:11:00.001-07:00

Farah Khan's funny brother, Sajid Khan has been crying hoarse that his directorial debut 'Heyy Babyy' is not inspired by the Tom Selleck - Ted Danson starrer 'Three men and a baby'. Well, the teaser that was released in IndiaFM recently seems to scream otherwise...looks exactly like the 1987 Hollywood film! Sajid could however seek refuge by saying that he got inspired by the 1985 French comedy, '3 hommes et un couffin' ('Three men and a cradle', the source of the English film!), since Sagar Ballary has made uncredited lifting of French farces fashionable and lucrative, depending on whether you talk about the connection or not!

But, while I was watching the fairly enjoyable teaser of Heyy Babyy, the one thing that struck me was the music in the background! Sajid was quoted by DNA, on January 16, 2007 as saying, "Do you know why I chose Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to do the music for Hey Baby? That’s because their name doesn’t figure in the list of copycats on a website devoted to exposing plagiarism in Hindi film music". Thanks Sajid bhai, but I sincerely hope that background music is only a piece in the trailer and not an actual song. Because it sounds exactly like pop/soul-rock band Maroon 5's track, 'This love' from their 2002 debut album, 'Songs about Jane'. The audio clip for the teaser is ripped from the video clip in IndiaFM - try paying closer attention to the music in the background over the funny lines of Akshay Kumar and the multiple slap sounds!

Listen to Heyy Babyy teaser | This love

Ehsaan says in a mail that the trio have nothing to do with either the background music or teaser pieces for the film. Thought as much. Relieved!

Afghans in a reverse plagiarism spree!

2008-05-09T22:10:00.002-07:00

Afghani singers seem to be in a reverse plagiarism spree. Listen to these!

Qader Eshpari's Afghani Kal ho na ho (Mp3)
Rameen Sharif's Afghani Main yahan (Veer Zaara)
Rameen and Omar Sharif's Afghani Subaan allah (Fanaa)

Qader, incidentally, says he's sorry! (Courtesy, Priyanka Dasgupta - Calcutta Times, July 6, 2007)

Rahman's prelude inspired from Maroon 5's track?

2008-05-09T22:10:00.001-07:00

Rahman's 2006 track, 'Machakkaari' from the film 'Sillunnu oru kaadhal' has a racy and very prominent prelude that seems startlingly similar to a prelude from a song, 'Shiver' by the soul-rock band Maroon 5. The hitch? Shiver was part of Maroon 5's 2002 album, 'Songs about Jane'! Now, I do understand that this is not about a tune lift at all, but the reason why its up here is to at least find out if this could possibly be a commercially available loop! Could some of the more knowledgeable/ better connected visitors of ItwoFS throw some light on this?
Listen to Prelude in Machakkaari | in Shiver

Uzbek version of A R Rahman's Saathiya track, 'Aye udi udi'.

2008-05-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

By Uzbek pop star Iroda Dilroz (Youtube link). And it looks like Rahman knows about this!

Jhoom barabar jhoom title song?

2008-05-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Jhoom barabar jhoom title song lifted? Note-to-note, thump-to-thump and lilt-to-lilt? That too, from a South Indian film? Huh? Does anyone have any clue on what this news item is talking about, in its first para? Do lemme know! Ehsaan Noorani, though denies this outright. And I trust him much more than Cybernoon!

Sania badnaam (Apna sapna money money) Vs Strawberry hoon (Raghu Romeo)

2008-05-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'd rather give the benefit of doubt to Pritam than make any assumptions. First came 'Strawberry hoon main' from Raghu Romeo (2003). And then comes the same tune's slightly more popular version, 'Sania badnaam', from Apna Sapna Money Money (2006). Are you aware of an original to both these tunes? Do lemme know!
Listen to Strawberry hoon main | Sania badnaam

Paris Hilton's debut song's producers sued for plagiarism!

2008-05-09T22:06:00.001-07:00

Besides the news of her checking into a LA County jail, the other big news about Paris Hilton, beleaguered celebrity socialite and one time internet porn superstar (!) is that record producers of her really sorry 2006 single, 'Stars are blind' - V2 Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and Hilton's songwriter/ producer Fernando Garibay - are being sued by Sparta Florida Music Group, who allege parts of the track are lifted from UB40's 1989 classic track, 'Kingston Town'. According to the news, "the GBP250,000 ($500,000) writ, filed in London's High Court, claims breach of copyright. Sparta Florida intends to draw on evidence from a musicologist and on internet articles to prove their case". So, I was curious about the similarities in the two tracks in question. And guess what, Paris could start her life afresh in India - she could speed and break whatever speed records she has in mind...she could also lift anything (leave alone a song) she wants and get away with it but no dirty stuff, vogay, we already have enough things to protest against (the latest of which is the name - 'sexy' - of a precocious 9 year old in Balki's Cheeni Kum!)! Paris' version does borrow in small quantities (the prelude turns into the opening line - the genre, reggae, is retained too) from Kingston Town, but as someone neck deep in far more blatant cases of plagiarism, this seems like peanuts! US$ 500,000 huh? Imagine the amount of moolah our producers may have to dole out if the copyright laws are a bit more stringent?
Listen to Stars are blind | Kingston Town

Interlude in Saroja samaan nikaalo (Chennai 600028)

2008-05-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

A very interesting case of interlude inspiration that mandates a mid-week update! Anantha of Superstarksa blog has made a fantastic find on how Yuvan Shankar Raja could possibly be a huge Spiderman fanboy! Remember the theme music of the original cartoon Spiderman series? The same one we used to wait desperately on weekend noons on Doordarshan, just before heading to start the cricket match! Ah, who can forget that? Now, how would you react if I say that the same theme tune has been used in Yuvan's latest, 'Chennai 6000028'? Hard to believe, huh? But yes, it has been used - if I may add, very very intelligently, right upto the choice of instrument, as an interlude, in the track, 'Saroja saamaan nikaalo' (more on this song's title - in the trivia!). Very smart, Yuvan. No, I'm not blaming him this time - this is perhaps the real way to pay homage, I guess! Incidentally, many others have done it, with this theme, according to Wikipedia!

Listen to Saroja saamaan nikalo first interlude | Spiderman cartoon theme

Trivia on Spiderman cartoon theme: A spidey fan site helps us with the details of the cartoon theme's credits - Words by Paul Francis Webster and music by Bob Harris, Stu Phillips and D Kapross. Also, the mention of Charlie Mingus' 1959 boogie track, 'Boogie stop shuffle' as the possible inspiration for the cartoon theme seems well grounded too! Listen to Boogie stop shuffle (Charlie Mingus). Watch the Spiderman cartoon opening video here in YouTube!

Trivia on the words 'Saroja saamaan nikaalo'!: I recall reading Chennai 6000028's director Venkat Prabhu talking about where he got these words. Director Shankar's Arjun starrer Mudhalvan (Nayak, in Hindi) had a scene, where, after becoming the 'one-day-CM', one of the chores that Arjun attends to is to weed out subletting on government-allotted quarters for slum dwellers. They had incidentally sublet their quarters since it fetches better returns. One of the doors Arjun knocks with the entire media in tow is a 'Sat(e)' (Chennai parlance for any North Indian businessman/ moneylender - usually a Marwadi!). After the initial resistance the sat(e) agrees to move out and yells out to his wife (Sushma, not Saroja, however! - Source: Triviapettai), 'Sushma saara samaan nikaalo' (In existential terms, it means, "Saroja, get our worldly belongings out!")

Shing nei tobu (Lukochuri)

2008-05-09T22:02:00.002-07:00

Kishore Kumar has often been called the 'Danny Kaye of India' and quite a bit of singing seems to have been inspired by the Hollywood comedian. So, its quite possible that Kishore was instrumental in getting composer Hemanta Mukjerjee to adapt Danny Kaye's 1946 hit, 'Oh by Jingo!' as 'Shing nei tobu nam tar shingo' for the 1958 Bengali comedy hit 'Lukochuri' starring Kishore Kumar and Mala Sinha. The singing and mukhda are quite evidently and blatantly used in the Indian version.Thanks to 'Musique Man' Varma for the info!

Listen to Shing nei tobu | Oh by Jingo

Besides this Danny Kaye connection, there's another that I'm looking for more information. The song from the 1962 Kishore Kumar starrer, Half Ticket, 'Woh ik nagaah kya' is supposedly inspired by a scene from Danny Kaye's 1954 film, 'Knock on wood'. Now, I've not seen both the the films in question, but would like to know from someone who has, if there's a musical/ song lift involved here.

Trivia on Oh by Jingo!: 'Oh by Jingo' was originally composed by Albert Von Tilzer, with lyrics by Lew Brown in the year 1920! Danny's version came much later in 1946. The original was recorded by the Premier Quartet as 'Oh by Jingo! Oh by Gee' and was released on Edison Blue Amberol Cylinder record in August 1920 and on Edison Diamond Disc 50666-L in September 1920. For the original recording in mp3 and a bit more slightly unrelated trivia, head to this page!

RMIM Puraskar 2006

2008-05-09T22:02:00.001-07:00

It was a very proud moment for me when Vinay mailed me that I have been recommended by a few people to be a judge for RMIM Puraskar 2006. So, there I was listening to the nominated tracks and making my choice…it has all been a wonderful experience! The polling and the whole planning was fantastic…kudos to Vinay. And, here are the results! Even though my personal fave was Dor (as you may have seen in my 'Top 10 Hindi songs of 2006' post in Milliblog), Omkara is a deserving choice too.

Take a look at the results here!

For those of you who voted me as a judge….THANKS!

The CNBC Panel discussion on plagiarism in Indian film music!

2008-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

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!

Djur Djura and Jhoom barabar jhoom!

2008-05-09T22:00:00.001-07:00

While working on a lead from 'Musique Man' Varma - on the possible source of Shankar Jaikishen's cult classic 'Yaad kiya dil' (Patita, 1953, sung by Hemant Kumar), I stumbled upon another song from the same group, alleged to have the Patita original. The group is called Djur Djura and its a all-women group working on Algerian folk music. The song in question is called 'Uni-vers-elles'. This track has generous dollops of 'Jhoom barabar jhoom', with even those three words appearing exactly! Yes, the same Aziz Nazan cult hit in 1971 that was also used as an item song in the film '5 rifles' (1974).

Djur Djura was formed in 1977 by its lead singer Djura (as explained in detail in the official website of the world music record label 'Luaka Bop' owned by musician David Byrne, co-founder of the group Talking Heads). Considering the possibility of 2 (one confirmed, another unknown) Indian tracks in her repertoire, I'm on the lookout for any information that can help me place the dates of all the 4 tracks mentioned here.
- Yaad kiya dil ne (Patita, 1953) - Possibly inspired by Algerian folk song - Unconfirmed
- Jhoom barabar jhoom (Aziz Nazan, 1971) - Found in Uni-vers-elles (Djur Djura, 2002)

The dates available as of now clearly points to the fact that the Indian versions are much older. Now, two relevant questions arise here.

01. Does Djur Djura, as a band rework existing Algerian folk music? Or, do they also seek inspiration from across the world and could have possibly lifted Jhoom barabar jhoom?
02. If a tune-equivalent of the Patita exists in their repertoire, does that again point to one of the two possibilities - the band using traditional Algerian folk or seeking inspiration from more diverse world sources, including Indian film music?

Download the mp3 version of Uni-vers-ellese here! Any more info on this topic will be immensely helpful! While I have heard some rare albums of Djur Djura, I found their music to be an interesting mix of genres including Andean folk and the kind of music Hedningarna produces. But, I'm yet to come across this so-called original of Patita's 'Yaad kiya dil'!

A R Rahman's 'Ottagatha Kattikko' (Gentleman, 1993) and La Caution's 'Pilotes Automatqies', 2005.

2008-05-09T21:59:00.003-07:00

This one's a reverse! Or, it possibly could be. Just came across (thanks to messages in the Rahman Yahoo Group and TFM Page) a track 'Pilotes Automatqies' by a French hip-hop group called 'La Caution'. And it samples almost throughout the song, A R Rahman's 1993 chartbuster 'Ottagatha Kattikko' from Gentleman (called 'Roop Suhana lagta hai' in Hindi!). The hip-hop track is part of La Caution's 2005 album, 'Arc En Ciel Pour Dal Toniens'. Now, a few pertinent questions. Does the French album include a credit to Rahman? How did they come to know about a Tamil track...any possible Indian connection somewhere? And most importantly, does Rahman know?
Listen to Pilotes automatiques | Ottagatha Kattikko

Himesh Reshammiya's 'Odhni od ke naachoon' from Tere Naam (2004)

2008-05-09T21:59:00.001-07:00

Is it lifted? Pakistani singer Naseebo Lal's 'Isqhe da wal aagaya' has exactly the same tune. But, despite Himesh's dubious past, I'd rather not jump to the conclusion that he lifted it. Need to ascertain the release year of Naseebo Lal's version. Do lemme know in case you know/ come across the year of release of Naseebo Lal's track!
Listen to Ishqe da wal aagaya

Hassan Jehangir's Hawa Hawa (1990)

2008-05-09T21:58:00.004-07:00

This chartbuster was first released in 1990 in Pakistan, but strangely enough, its Iranian original is as old as the 70s, to the best of my search! Yes, the original is called 'Havar havar' and was by Persian singer Kourosh Yaghmai. Lets not really get into Hawa hawa's Indian version...quite pointless, in my opinion, since we've addressed the source.
Listen to Hawa hawa | Havar havar [Full version, here!]

Laxmikant Pyarelal's only Malayalam score for the film 'Poonila Mazha' - Song, 'Thak thaank' (1997)

2008-05-09T21:58:00.003-07:00

The Mariachi track, 'Cancion del Mariachi' by Antonio Banderas and Los Lobos was part of Robert Rodriguez's 'Desperado' (1995) soundtrack. Daboo Malik has already used up this track for a number in Pran jaaye par shaan na jaaye (2003). Here's Laxmikant Pyarelal's version of the same track, way back in 1997, in their only Malayalam film, Poonilamazha. The song is 'Thak thaank...'! Pretty much direct lift, but sounds quite interesting! Another song from the same film, 'Chilu chilu chira' seems to be inspired by Michael Jackson's 'They don't really care about us'...just those lines, but!
Listen to Thak thaank | Cancion del Mariachi

Black Eyed Peas' 'Don't phunk with my heart' (2005)

2008-05-09T21:58:00.001-07:00

Seriously, what is wrong with Black Eyed Peas? Not that I considered them any good, in the first place. But they seem to be on a complete trip of Indian 70s/ 80s tracks. Their new album, 'Monkey Business' has the track, 'Don't phunk with my heart'. This track's prelude was alleged to have been lifted from 'Yeh Mera Dil' (Don, Kalyanji Anandji, 1978). Yes, quite true. What's even more shocking is the actual song in itself seems to have been inspired by another Kalyanji Anandji track, 'Aye naujawan' from the 1972 film, Apradh! But, this album does have the necessary credits to all parties related, including, Kalyanji Anandji & Indeewar and also adds, 'Contains a sample from “Ae Naujawan Sab Kuchh Yahan” sung by Asha Bhosle'! Listen to Don't phunk with my heart | Yeh mera dil (Don) | Aye naujawan (Apradh)

Black Eyed Peas' 'Elephunk Theme'

2008-05-09T21:57:00.004-07:00

This has got to be one of the weirdest cases I've added here...and a classic case for reverse plagiarism! Found this in Manoj's Minor Scale Blog. There's this obscure song by Ilayaraja in the 1985 Rajnikant starrer 'Sri Ragavendra'. The song, 'Unakkum Enakkum' sounds completely out of place in the otherwise 'religious' movie...sounds more like a 'seduction' song :-). Even more wierd is the fact that someone like Black Eyed Peas decided to do a 'remix' of this obscure track! And you've gotto listen to it to believe this! Much more blatant than Truth Hurts' Addictive that merely sampled a few bars from the original Hindi track. And surprise surprise...Black Eyed Peas decided to drop this track (called 'Elephunk Theme') from the later versions of the album's (called 'Elephunk'!!) release! But yes, quite a few reviews have already made a mention of this track using epithets like, "Bollywood-soaked" and "they bring sitar, flute, and an Indian vocalist in to serve it up Bhangra style" (Bhangra? Gawd!) or "incorporates this year's hottest trend, Indian music"! So, why did they drop this track? Scared of getting into a legal mess? And how in the world did these guys come across this rare Tamil track?! Also, was someone credited in the original version of the album - if so, who?

Listen to Elephunk theme | Unakkum Enakkum

Thadayam Title Track (Sun TV - Serial)

2008-05-09T21:57:00.003-07:00

I've never been a fan of Sun TV's Tamil serials (or 'mega serial' as they are termed these days since they annoy people on a daily basis!), but I sure am a fan of Bananarama! Who'd have thought that a Tamil serial in Sun TV will have a title track lifted off Bananarama's classic oldie, 'Venus' (1986)? Yes, the title track of the serial 'Thadayam' uses the Bananarama classic almost to the hilt! I recall reading about the Serial title track composers making it big in the film world too...people like D Iman (who also scored for the Hindi flop, 'Kis kis ki kismat, starring Mallika 'look-ma-no-clothes' Sherawat and Dharam Paaji!), Rehan, Kiran and the most successful of the lot, Dhina. I'm not sure about the composer of Thadayam's track...maybe someone who's better clued-in could mail me!
Listen to Thadayam title track | Venus

Tumse Milke (Main Hoon Naa) / In Zaire (Johnny Wakelin)

2008-05-09T21:57:00.001-07:00

This update, for a change, is not about a lift. Its about a biased review in which the author claims that a particular song is a direct lift, while the truth is that it is not. The song in question is, "Tumse milke dil ka" from Anu Malik's 'Main Hoon Na'. Manjulaa Negi, who reviewed the movie in The Hindustan Times, alleges that this song is a straight lift from the 70s hit number, 'In Zaire'. In Zaire has already been mauled by Jatin Lalit in the 'Kabhi haan kabhi naa' song, "Sachi yeh kahani hai...' and has been listed under Jatin Lalit page too, in ItwoFS! So why is Manjulaa accusing Anu? This issue also gives a good opportunity to explain what I think is a lift and what is not.

Listen to Tumse milke (Ishq mein) | In Zaire

Yes, the way percussions open both the songs sound similar, but my angle to inspiration/ plagiarism is not mere percussions/ beats/ rythms sounding similar. In my opinion, that is completely besides the point. In the Indian film music context, its the actual tune that matter. Does the way 'Tumse milke dil hai jo haal kya karen' sound like anything in In Zaire? That gauges a lift in the Indian context. Precisely the reason why I do not consider the 'ace of base' sounds in Rahman's 'Indian' film track, 'Telephone dhun mein' or many of the instances listed in the Rahman page. Manjulaa is wrong this time, even though most plagiarism allegations against Anu Malik turn out to be genuine. And her use of the words 'direct lift' when there is no actual lift, reeks of personal bias, but I suppose Anu's shady past is partly responsible for that bias. Lets give the man his due when he does something good...something original...albeit rarely!

Kaadhal Konden, the movie, copied off 'Klassenfahrt', a German movie!

2008-05-09T21:56:00.003-07:00

I had listed 3 lifts in the recent Tamil hit 'Kaadhal Konden' by composer Yuvan Shankar Raja recently (now available in the Yuvan Shankar Raja Page). Turns out that the film's theme in itself is lifted from a German movie called 'Klassenfahrt' (English title, 'School Trip')...not only the theme but also the mannerisms of the original's lead guy, whom the Tamil hero Dhanush apes unabashedly. I remember Dhanush getting loads of praise from the Tamil press for his 'acting' in the film...:-)

Kaho Na Kaho (Amir Jamal)/ Tamally Ma'ak (Amr Diab)

2008-05-09T21:56:00.001-07:00

You must have seen the promos for a new movie titled 'Murder' ( a rip-off of the Diane Keaton - Richard Gere starrer 'Unfaithful' which came out in 2002 - well, what else do you expect when Mahesh Bhatt is at the helm of affairs!). There's an interesting song, 'Kaho na kaho' that is garnering all attention since it also has Arabic lyrics in between. As far as I understand, Anu Malik is credited with its music (at least in the promos!), but the origins of this song go a long way back!

'Kaho na kaho' is sung by Pakistani singer Amir Jamal and is his composition from his 2003 album by the same name. If you had heard the song, you'd have noticed Arabic lyrics that goes, '...tamally ma'ak'. And there lies the twist! This song was originally composed by Sherif Tag (lyrics by Ahmed Ali Mousa) and sung by Arabic singer Amr Diab under the name (what else?) 'Tamally Ma'ak' in the year 2000 (from the album of the same name). Amir Jamal simply lifted this song and added Hindi lyrics and used it in his album. This song has also found its way in to 'Murder', thanks to the Bhatts! Its one thing to copy a song with no credit whatsoever to its original composer and its completely another thing to use the same title/ lyrics in the copied version! And does 'Tamally Ma'ak' sound similar? It just might...'cos Sanjeev Darshan have already lifted 2 songs from this album for the Anil Kapoor starrer 'Rishthey'! Check out the page on Sanjeev Darshan for details!

Listen to Kaho na kaho [Amir Jamal] | Tamally Ma'ak [Amr Diab]

Another interesting aspect here is that Amir Jamal is not the only person to lift this song. There are, on last count, 6 other versions of this song, besides Amir Jamal's Hindi/ Arabic version! And not even one version is legal - not one was done with permission from Amr Diab or with a credit to him! But this sure shows how popular Amr Diab is across the globe! Here's a list of the other lifts of Tamally Ma'ak...Thanks to information from the website on Amr Diab.
Israel: Artist: Orna & Moshe Datz, Song: You're In My Heart, Year: 2001 [Listen to You're In My Heart]
Bulgaria: Artist: Ivana, Song: Skitam se az, Year: 2002 - [Listen to Skitam se az]
Argentina: Artist: Andrea Del Valle Bela, Song: Te voy a dejar, Year: 2004 - [Listen to Te voy a dejar]
Spain: Artist: Carmona, Song: Te Quiero Ti, Year: 2003 - [Listen to Te Quiero Ti]
Russia: Artist: Avraam Russo, Song: Daleko Daleko, Year: 2002 [Listen to Daleko Daleko]
Japan: Resung in Arabic by the Japanese band 'Warna' and released as a video. Watch the video at this Amr Diab site!

Taal's Raga Dance

2008-05-09T21:55:00.003-07:00

This is NOT an instance of lifting/ copying. Its more about sound sampling/ use of loops. These are commercially available pieces and are used by musicians worldwide. Sandeep Chowta did it for the orchestration of Pyar Tune Kya Kiya's 'Khambakt Ishq' (its a different issue that he lifted the tune, which was rather blatant!). Al Di Meola's 'Race with devil on Turkish highway' (1998) has a prelude piece which is EXACTLY similar to the opening piece in Taal's (1999) 'Raga Dance' music piece by A R Rahman! Al Di Meola had fellow guitarist Steve Vai collaborating with him in this number (this song was originally composed by Meola in 1978, for his album 'Elegant Gypsy' - it was then called 'Race with devil on Spanish highway'). Strangely enough, you'd not find the Taal piece in Meola's 70s version. I had found a mention about this in an online message board where the poster had alleged that Rahman has copied Meola! Just wanted to let this site's visitors know that this would not amount to copying, since the very purpose of creating samples and loops is for use by musicians. A review of Meola's album 'Infinite desire' says, "Di Meola is nobody's technophobe, so in addition to delicately played acoustic guitar and piano, many tunes here feature sampling technology and looped-sounding rhythm tracks". Another review, on a different note, talking about Meola's music style says, "Al is joined by fellow guitarist, Steve Vai, and the two of them race through the complex number in mind-boggling style and tempo. You can really tell these two cats like to wail at each other" - Precisely what I felt when I heard this eclectic and disparate sounding track!

Listen to Taal's Raga Dance | Race with devil on Turkish highway | Race with devil on Spanish highway

Note: After listening to Meola's music, if you are curious to know more about him, check this out!

Kitna pyaar tumhe karte hain from Ek Ladka Ek ladki

2008-05-09T21:55:00.001-07:00

A rather interesting lift/ inspiration! Anand Milind had composed fairly good numbers for the Salman Khan - Neelam starrer 'Ek ladka ek ladki'. I had recently mentioned that one of the songs (chotisi duniya mohobbat ka hai mere paas...) was lifted from a Pakistani number! Here's another, though I'm not sure, how many would agree. My friend Gopal Srinivasan informed me about an old, famous Kannada song that sounds like 'Kitna pyaar tumhen karte hain...' from Ek ladka ek ladki! This Kannada song is fairly old, probably from the 50s or 60s, still not clear about its release year. It goes, 'Hindustanavu endu mareyada...' and is from the film 'Amrutha Ghalige'. The composer was Vijayabhaskar. When I heard it, it sure did sound like Anand Milind's Hindi song...at least the way it opens!! Check it out! Knowing Anand Milind's penchant for lifting from regional soundtracks (more so, Ilayaraja's soundtracks!), the thought of a lift from the old Kannada song seems possible!

Incidentally, Salilda's Rajnigandha (1974) title song sounds similar too!! If the Kannada track is indeed from the 1980s, as mentioned in RMIM, then Salilda's number seems to be the precursor to all others! Listen to Kitna pyar tumhen karte hain | Hindustanavu endu mareyada | Rajnigandha title song

Malayalam song from Millennium Stars and a ghazal by Hariharan

2008-05-09T21:54:00.001-07:00

Multilingual South Indian composer Vidyasagar probably had/has his most fruitful innings in Malayalam. His music for Malayalam films portray him as a highly talented composer though his Tamil and Telugu numbers are more on the massy side. There is this particular song by Vidyasagar in the 2000 movie 'Millennium Stars' - 'Parayaan nyaan marannu' - which has a very unique structure. The opening part of the song has a fast, catchy western tune, followed by part two which has a typical Malayalam flavour and the third part having a ghazal like feel with Hindi lyrics! Its a rather strange number and sung by KJ Yesudas, his son Vijay Yesudas and Hariharan. What's striking is the third part which has a ghazal-like tune. The tune is almost an exact rip-off of Hariharan's 1983 ghazal 'Jabse woh maahpara gaya' from his own album 'Sukoon'. Hariharan had composed music for Sukoon. I wonder how he agreed to sing this number by Vidyasagar which had ripped off his own ghazal!
Listen to Parayaan nyaan marannu [All the 3 parts of the song] | Jabse woh maahpara gaya

The Great 'Kaliyon Ka Chaman' Hungama!

2008-05-09T21:53:00.001-07:00

This sure makes up for an interesting story! Its started with Dr Dre saying "The song is really simple. All it is, is a drum track, bassline and this Indian girl singing. And it was incredible". He was talking about his latest US chartbuster sung by Truth Hurts, 'Addictive'. The 'Girl' in his quote happens to be our own Lata Mangeshkar and its mighty apparent that Dr Dre doesn't know a thing about the 'girl' who sang that part in his song! Thankfully Mumbai-based journalist Narendra Kusnur (with Mid Day Newspaper) did the much-needed background research and the following has been extracted from his research. Dr Dre had merely sampled an obscure 80's Hindi film song and while you listen to 'Addictive' you'd also notice that the entire song is based on the direction provided by this particular sample - meaning, this sample does much more than what a sample normally does to most songs! The sample is from the song 'Kaliyon ka chaman...thoda resham lagta hai..." from the 1981 movie 'Jyoti' with music by Bappi Lahiri. Interestingly when Narendra Kusnur read out the lyrics to him to confirm Bappida didnt remember his own song. Later he did! The director of this movie, Pramod Chakraborty didnt remember this song from his movie either! Thats how obscure this song is! And finally when Narendra Kusnur asked Bappi Lahiri whether he was planning to take any action because the American artistes hadn’t given any credit or asked for permission, Bappida replied, "I’ll think about that later. Right now, I am really happy that I and Lata didi, the legend of Indian music, are at the top of the international charts. This is an unforgettable day for me and for Indian music!"

The other part of the story is an Indian version to the Truth Hurts number. This one features in the assorted remix compilation UMI10 - Volume 3! The music is credited to composer Harry Anand. When Narendra Kusnur asks him about the origins of his song, Harry responds back saying that he was asked to remix the US smash hit in his own way by the record label. He apparently has no clue about Jyoti and the actual original! Even more funnier is the video for the remixed Indian version...its a straight lift of the US version! So they lift our song, and we lift the lifted. We also lift their video! Interesting equation, this!
Listen to Addictive [Truth Hurts] | Kaliyon ka chaman [Jyoti] | Thoda resham lagta hai [Harry Anand's remix]

Title song from Yeh Kaisi Mohobbat

2008-05-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

I had come across the promos of a B-grade flick recently, called 'Yeh kaisi mohobbat' with music (surprise!) by Sandeep 'Holier-than-thou' Chowta! One song (Tu yahan hai..., Title Song) featured reminded me of some older song and I later managed to identify it too. It sounded a lot like Nadeem Shravan's 'Adaayen bhi hai' from Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin. Now, we know that DHKMN has quite a few other lifted numbers too like Bachelor Boy in 'Oh mere sapnon ke saudagar' and Demis Roussos' 'Lovely lady of arcadia' in 'Yuhin kat jaayega'. So I strongly suspect 'Adaayen bhi hai' to have an original too, though it is just a hunch. If it indeed does, then Sandeep has derived inspiration from the same source! Let me know if anyone knows if there's a common original!
Listen to Tu yahan hai | Adaayen bhi hai

'Kabhi alvida na kehna' from Chalte Chalte

2008-05-09T21:51:00.002-07:00

've come across a few messages on the net claiming that this song is inspired by a German folk song (volksmusik). The original is supposedly an accordion-based song.

Listen to Kabhi alvida na kehna

Do lemme know if you know more the original.

Interlude from Taj Mahal's 'Karisal Tharisal'

2008-05-09T21:51:00.001-07:00

Maran from Malaysia wanted me to listen to a particular interlude from A R Rahman's 'Karisal Tharisal' song from the movie Taj Mahal (1999). He pointed out that it sounded very similar to a background piece from the Antonio Banderas - Antony Hopkins starrer, 'The Mask of Zorro'. Well, it does sound very similar! And it turns out that the piece is composed by James Horner (this piece best comes out in the track titled 'Diego's Goodbye' in the OST). There's a vocal version of this track too, by Tina Arena and Marc Antony - 'I want to spend my lifetime loving you'! To be fair to Rahman, this interlude similarity is for a few odd seconds. James Horner has the reputation of deriving inspiration from many sources, including a lot from Western Classical...who knows...this could be one of them too!
Listen to Karisal Tharisal Interlude | Diego's Goodbye | I want to spend my lifetime loving you

Mr Romeo's 'Mellisaye' / Maurice Ravel's Bolero

2008-05-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

I had posted a query about the connection between A R Rahman's Mr. Romeo number, 'Mellisaye' and the theme music of the cartoon series 'Kozacks' (or Cojjacks?). While I couldn't locate the exact theme tune of this TV series, a post in this site's message board (by Ganesh) suggested that I listen to Maurice Ravel's 'Bolero'. And so I did. Surprisingly, I felt there are definite shades of 'Bolero' in the Rahman number - sort of a subtle influence? [What do you think?]. Also think that the TV cartoon series' theme should have been inspired by Bolero, since Bolero was first composed in 1928!

Listen to Mellisaye | Bolero

Trivia note on Maurice Ravel: Maurice Ravel was born on March 7th, 1875 in Ciboure, France which is located in the heart of the Basque country in southwestern France. Strongly influenced by the works of Liszt, Mussorgsky, and Faure, Ravel, along with Claude Debussy created a style of music that was largely inspired by the Impressionist paintings of Claude Monet. Impressionistic music dealt largely with evoking images of moods and places. Ravel’s style of music began to change around the time of Claude Debussy’s death in 1918. His work became more abstract and closer to the neo-classical styles of Stravinsky, incorporating early jazz rhythms and harmonies. However, Ravel retained that quality of style which made all his music instantly recognizable as his own.

Stravinsky once referred to Ravel as “the Swiss watchmaker” because of his painstaking attention to detail. He would perfect small, self contained blocks of music before integrating them into a larger, more complex structure of his composition, much like the many moving parts of a watch.

Apparently, Ravel did not feel that composing music came easily to him. He wrote, "I am not one of the great composers. All the great have produced enormously. There is everything in their work - the best and the worst, but there is always quantity. But I have written relatively very little . . . and at that, I did it with a great deal of difficulty. I did my work slowly, drop by drop. I have torn all of it out of me by pieces. . . and now I cannot do any more, and it does not give me any pleasure."

In 1928, Ravel wrote his most famous piece of music, Bolero, while on holiday in his hometown, Ciboure. Each year, his whole family would return to visit Ciboure for their annual vacation, and he had continued to visit even after his parents deaths. Bolero is built upon two musical themes which is repeated eighteen times during the work. It is not an attempt of Spanish dance music, nor is it a bolero or folk dance at all. It is slower in tempo than a bolero dance, and is a combination of a polonaise, chaconne, and zarabande while throughout the piece the rhythm of a snare drum beats relentlessly. Most people either love or hate this piece. Many think it is repetitive and boring while others find it hypnotizing and fascinating. It is, in any event, the world's longest musical crescendo.

In fact, on Sept 1, 1997, a British study published in 'Psychiatric Bulletine' claims Ravel may have been in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease because of its repetitive melody. Dr. Eva Cybulska, the author of the study, suggests this possibility due to the fact that most people with this affliction suffer from an obsession with repeating words and gestures.

Thakshak's Toofan Ki Raat / Paula Abdul's 'My Love Is For Real'

2008-05-09T21:49:00.001-07:00

Had got a mail from one of my site's visitors, Vikas Deep Sharma who had mentioned about a Paula Abdul song, 'My love is for real'. Vikas felt this song resembled some recent Hindi song. When I heard the track, I found the first two lines bearing a striking similarity to A R Rahman's Thakshak (1999) number, 'Toofan ki raat'!! It was rather surprising, considering only the first 2 lines sounding similar and the rest was very different. But because the opening similarity was too real to discard, here I am adding both the songs!

Listen to Toofan ki raat | My love is for real

About the song 'My love is for real': The first single off Paula's 1995 album, 'Head Over Heels', 'My Love is For Real' was co-written by Paula and has a middle-eastern Arabian groove Ofra Haza's vocals. "My Love is For Real" wasn’t a huge commercial comeback hit for Paula, but the song made it to #28 on the Billboard Hot 30. Several mixes of the song were produced and the track was a hit with dance clubs.

Trivia note on Ofra Haza: One of Israel's most popular singers, Ofra Haza broke through to international recognition during the mid-1980s when her traditional music found favor on the U.K. club circuit, its success leading to a series of unlikely pop projects. Born in Tel Aviv on November 19, 1959, Haza was the daughter of Yemenite parents forced to flee from their native country's Muslim regime; at the age of 12 she joined the renowned Hatikva theatrical troupe, and with the group cut a number of award-winning records before serving a compulsory two-year tour of duty in the Israeli army. Upon her discharge, in 1979 she mounted a solo career, becoming a star not only at home but also in neighboring Arab nations; in 1983, her recording of "Hi!" placed second in the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

Inspired by the ancient melodies taught to her by her mother, in 1985 Haza recorded Yemenite Songs, which featured traditional instruments as well as lyrics drawn from the 16th century poetry of Shalom Shabazi; not only a major hit at home, the album was also a worldbeat smash in England as well. With 1988's Shaday, she turned away from traditional sounds to pursue more dance-flavored material, and the single "Im Nin'al" even reached the Top 20 on the U.K. pop charts, additionally becoming a club favorite in the U.S.

The 1989 album Desert Wind' was sung largely in English, and its release corresponded with Haza's first American tour. For 1992's Grammy-nominated 'Kirya', she teamed with producer Don Was, and welcomed guests Iggy Pop and Lou Reed; that same year, Haza also recorded the single "Temple of Love" with British goth-rockers the Sisters of Mercy. Despite her success, however, she was silent throughout the middle of the decade, finally resurfacing in 1997 with a self-titled LP issued on her new label BMG Ariola. Haza died unexpectedly of AIDS-related complications on February 23, 2000.

A Tamil song from James Bond (2000)

2008-05-09T21:48:00.002-07:00

I had recently come across a song from the Tamil movie 'James Bond' (2000 - the movie has got nothing to do with 007, but the 2 lead characters are called James and Paandu!!) - the song, 'Kannenna Misaarama', by composer S A Rajkumar. It is an exact replica of an instrumental piece I'm very familiar with, but haven't been able to recall its title/ group!! Every time I hear this Tamil song, I can clearly recall the instrumental piece - most probably a Spanish/ Latin kind of piece, though it does have Middle-Eastern influences as it progresses, but have not been able to place the song. A few things that came to my mind off-hand were the soundtrack of the Vanessa Williams starrer, 'Dance with me', some film awards show in which this might have been played in the background and so on. Just listen to the Tamil song and see if you can identify the original!
Listen to Kannenna Minsaarama

Anni Title Music / Paul Mauriat's Mamy Blue

2008-05-09T21:48:00.001-07:00

Tamil movie lovers would still recall veteran Director K Balachander with a lot of respect for the kind of movies he has produced. He branched out to TV serials a couple of years back and has successfully exploited the lacrimal glands of millions of women across Tamil Nadu. So its fairly surprising that one finds a direct lift in the title song of one of his recent serials. His serial 'Anni' has a title song, which was fairly popular when the serial was on air - its going thru the rerun routine now - 'Oh Anni' that is lifted straight of a 1968 Paul Mauriat track called 'Mamy Blue' (From the album, 'Love Is Blue')! Composer Rajesh Vaidya, who has done a few other title tracks for K Balachander's other serials, is the one to blame! Does the veteran Director know about the lift?
Listen to Theme from Anni | Mamy Blue

Siyaram Advt. Jingle - Percept

2008-05-09T21:46:00.001-07:00

I came across a piece of music while watching a travel show (about Finland) in the Discovery Channel. It sounded very much like the popular jingle of the Siyaram advt (which goes "...o siyaram...coming home to siyaram..."). Then with the help of my friend Gopal Srinivasan, I managed to trace the original's name...its a track called 'O Moena' by a German band by name Tri Atma, founded in 1977 by German guitarist Jens Fischer and Indian tabla player Asim Saha. Tri Atma specializes in fusing Eastern musical elements with Western electronic pop. In 1982, the duo met Klaus Netzle, a veteran German record and television producer who brought the space-age sounds of the Fairlight and Synclavier computer synthesizers to their music. As a fan in Amazon.com says, "Tri Atma's music is an amalgam of sampled ethnic and classical keyboard sounds, classical/ flamenco guitar and eastern/ Indian percussion set to a world beat rhythm some times bordering on island reggae with the overtones of old world European traditional folk instrumentation and classically trained musicianship"

Listen to O Moena

Please do let me know if someone has the video/ audio track of the Siayaram advt. Agencyfaqs.com, an Indian advertisement portal used to stock mpeg versions of most advts, but Siyaram's advt is missing! The Siyaram advt. was conceived and produced by the advt agency Percept.

Kissan Fruit Kick Soft Drink Concentrate - Lowe

2008-05-09T21:45:00.002-07:00

The Kissan advert uses a jingle that goes 'jaage jaage din hai, jaage jaage man hai...'. The tune is an exact lift from Ilayaraja's song, 'Putham puthu kaalai' from the 1981 movie 'Alaigal Oivathillai'. The online version of the advt. is available in the Magindia site but the link seems to be down presently.

Listen to Putham puthu kaalai

-- I managed to get the man behind the 2 recent advertisements with Ilayaraja's music - Kissan Fruit Kick Soft Drink concentrate and Idea Cellular. Its Balakrishnan aka Balki from Lowe. He had responded to long'ish query with a very relevant one-liner..."I'm one of Ilayaraja's biggest fans"! I guess that sums up things and we can expect more rare Ilayaraja numbers in Indian adverts! Thanks to Umesh for helping me out in this quest.

Idea Cellular - Lowe

2008-05-09T21:45:00.001-07:00

The advt. for Idea Cellular (the brand from Birla-Tata-AT&T) has a jingle lifted straight off Ilayaraja's song, 'Naguva nayana' from the 1983 Kannada movie, 'Pallavi Anupallavi' (Trivia: This was director Maniratnam's debut movie! It starred Anil Kapoor in the lead!!!). Watch Idea Cellular advt.
In the Magindia page | My RealVideo version
Listen to Naguva Nayana

Lakme Maximum Moisturizer

2008-05-09T21:44:00.002-07:00

Two new advertisements for Lakme's Maximum Moisturizer (both by the agency Ambience D'Arcy) are on air in India, right now. One for Lakme Peach, with model Yana Gupta (where she drops a few apples and an infatuated school kid helps her pick them up) and another for Lakme Strawberry, where a girl is walking in the fields and a butterfly mistakes her for a flower (or something along those lines!!). One of this site's visitors, Ramesh Ragupathy wrote in to say that the music for the 2nd advt. (Strawberry) has been lifted from Jerry Goldsmith's theme from the movie 'Rudy'. Does anybody know the exotic music playing the background of the first advt.? - I've not been able to get an online version of that advt. so far, but just managed to get the storyboard from the AgencyFAQs website. Please do let me know if you know the original title of the music of the first (Peach) advt. Ramesh also adds that the theme for this advt. is also copied...from the climax scene of the Italian movie, 'Malena'!

Maggi Noodles Jingle

2008-05-09T21:44:00.001-07:00

Lifted off the track, 'Music Music Music' by Teresa Brewer.

Listen to Music! Music! Music!

Trivia note on Teresa Brewer: Born in 1931, in Ohio, USA, Teresa Brewer took up signing at a very early age and became a local child prodigy. At the age of 19, she was already a seasoned performer. Teresa was soon signed with London Records, a fledgling label from England attempting to enter the American music market. After the release of three singles that went virtually unnoticed, Teresa recorded 'Copenhagen' in late 1949 with the Dixieland All Stars. London Records considered the flip side a throw-away song - a song titled 'Music Music Music', by Stephen Weiss and Bernie Baum. 'Music' eventually went gold, was the No.1 song in 1950, selling over a million copies - and, of course, became Teresa's signature title.

LG Plasma Gold Air Conditioner

2008-05-09T21:43:00.002-07:00

Lowe's Balki does it again. After using 2 Ilayaraja 80s classics 2 of his earlier advertisements, Balakrishnan aka Balki is back at it again. His latest advt. for LG Plasma Gold air conditioner uses a 1980 Ilayaraja tune - the song 'Uravenum Pudhiya Vaanil' from the Tamil movie 'Nenjathai Killathey'.

Watch LG Plasma Gold advt. in real video format (Poor picture quality, the music is more important)

Watch the advt. in MPG format from the MagIndia website |

Listen to Uravenum Pudhiya Vaanil

Kissan Mixed Fruit Jam

2008-05-09T21:43:00.001-07:00

Lowe's Balki strikes again! For the new Kissan Mixed Fruit Jam, the self confessed 'one of Ilayaraja's biggest fans', Balki uses a snapshot from one of Ilayaraja's most loved tracks, 'Idhu oru pon maalai pozhudhu', from the 1980 movie, 'Nizhalgal'.

Listen to Idhu oru pon maalai [Nizhalgal] | Watch Kissan Mixed Fruit Jam advt.

Liril Orange

2008-05-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

Just one look at the new advt for Liril Orange and you know its come from the agency Lowe, most probably, courtesy Balki! The jingle used is not the usual Liril jingle. Its a rehashed version of Ilayaraja's (Who else!) 1989 classic track, 'Jhallantha...' from Maniratnam's Telugu debut, 'Geetanjali' starring Nagarjuna. Does the agency get the copyright to use such songs from the past? If they do, is there some way to add a credit to the original composer? If not, its indeed serious injustice to the source composer! Could someone from the advt line explain?

Listen to Liril Orange Jingle | Jhallantha

Watch Liril Orange Advt.

Sujith pointed to an interview (June, 2004) with Balki in Indiantelevision.com that uses my exact question above (complete with the 'who else' et all!!) and Balki does answer. Considering the fact he's got Ilayaraja to score for his feature film debut (Cheeni Kum), I suppose he's kept his word! Here's the relevant excerpt!

The jingle is a mixture of Ilayaraja's (who else!) 1989 classic track, Jhallantha and Maniratnam's Telugu debut, Geetanjali. Does the agency get the copyright to use such songs from the past? If they do, is there some way to offer credits to the original composer?
Of course, we have a copyright. You can't add a credit because we have borrowed and composed the whole thing, we have written our own lyrics. We have not used the same song, only the melody. Like we did for the Bajaj Chetak's gadi boola rahi hain. We bought the rights of the track and recomposed it. Because the words might not exactly fit the requirements.

Is it true that you are one of Ilayaraja's biggest fans?
I have always said in all my interviews that Ilayaraja is the God of music even if we all live for another 5000 years to compose music, we won't get as melodious as him. And I believe in using good music for advertising or anything else. Even if I had to make a feature film, I would still buy Ilayaraja's old songs and recompose them.

Race - Pritam

2008-05-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

01. Pehli nazar mein is shameslessly plagiarized from the Korean song, 'Sarang hae yo' by Kim Hyung-sub.

02. Zara zara is a result of generous inspiration from the Chinese track, 'Deep within the Bamboo grove' (Zhu Lin Shen Chu) by South east Asian singer Lee-Hom Wang (from his 2005 album, Shangri-La).

Listen to Pehli nazar mein | Sarang hae yo

This is just like Metro's 'Shaayad yehi hai pyaar' and 'Ah Reum Dah Oon Sa Ram'! The original song (Sarang hae yo) was part of the soundtrack of a 2005 Korean tele series titled, 'Kwae-geol Chun-hyang' (Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang or Sassy Girl Chun Hyang). This lift is very similar to most of Pritam's other recent cases - shockingly direct, right from the tune, backgrounds et all! The less said about the Zara zara lift, the better!

Watch Sarang hae yo video, here!
More on Lee-Hom Wang! And, watch the video of 'Deep within the bamboo grove' here!

Oye Bubbly

2008-05-07T01:20:00.000-07:00

You might not have come across someone who hasn't seen/ heard the Bubbly song...yes, the one in the Pepsi advt. You'd have also read about the advt. jingle being a huge hit...that it was composed by the now-hot composing duo (more so after 'Dus') Vishal Shekar and so on. But how come the jingle sounds uneasily similar to a Deep Forest track, 'Tokyo Street'? That too, a track that was part of only the Japanese edition of their 2002 album, 'Music Detected' (not available in other versions released in other parts of the world. It featured Japanese violinist, Taro Hakase). In a conventional film song, the amount of improvisation a composer makes says a lot about how creative he is despite a lift, direct or otherwise. But a jingle is a lot more focused and short, that any lift tends to be blatant. Whoever I played Tokyo Street to went, 'Hey...that sounds like the Bubbly song' and that probably says a lot about whether this is a coincidence or not!

Listen to Oye bubbly | Tokyo Street

Raymond Theme

2008-05-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

The very popular Raymond TV ad theme that has been in use and has become their signature is originally by German composer Robert Schumann. This one's the 7th piano solo called, 'Dreaming (Träumerei)' in F major and is part of his Kinderszenen ("Scenes From Childhood"), Op. 15 written in 1838. Hopefully the agency which first suggested to Raymond this theme has the necessary permission...if not, I believe its never too late to sue!

Listen to Träumerei Version 1 | Träumerei Version 2

Tanha [Non-film Album: Junoon (2007)]

2008-05-07T01:18:00.001-07:00

Singer: Abhijeet Sawant, Composer: Biddu

Ripped off Lebanese singer Ragheb Alameh's 2005 track, 'Nassini el donia'.

Listen to Tanha | Nassini el donia

Here comes the second lift in the same album. The song: Tanha. Composer: Biddu Appaiah! Yes, the same Biddu behind Alisha's Made in India. And, Nazia Hassan and Qurbani. And much before that - Carl Douglas' international chartbuster 'Kung fu fighting'! Jeez..how the mighty have fallen! The song Tanha is a shockingly shameless and direct lift from Lebanese singer Ragheb Alameh's 2005 song, 'Nassini el donia' from the album, 'El Hob El Kebir'. While the lift includes some mild tweaks in the main structure by Biddu - everything from the prelude, the opening and the key hook is incredibly similar. Biddu...why man? In the earlier post, I had ideally blamed the composer (Jatin Sharma) more than the singer. But considering this 2nd lift, I think the blame should rest equally on young Abhijeet's shoulders. Why? Just like we attribute 'Ya ghali aliya' to Wama Band and 'Nassini el donia' to Ragheb Alameh, beyond this site, I don't think anyone would link either Jatin Sharma or Biddu with these tracks. They will obviously be Abhijeet Sawant's tracks! Abhijeet could well be just an 'artist' in Sony BMG's repertoire and perhaps may just be arriving at the studio to record the songs that folks in Sony have 'arranged' for him. But given the fact that the album is being sold on his name, he is equally responsible too!

Trivia: Ragheb Alameh? Biddu who?

Mahi mahi mahiya [Non-film Album: Junoon (2007)]

2008-05-07T01:17:00.002-07:00

Singer: Abhijeet Sawant, Composer: Jatin Sharma

Straight lift off Egyptian boy band Wama's 'Ya ghali aliya' (2005)

Listen to Mahi mahi mahiya | Ya Ghali Aliya

Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant latest album, Junoon' has songs composed by multiple composers (Amit Trivedi, Mithoon, Biddu, Raju Singh and Jatin Sharma) and Sony BMG has done a great job packaging the assortment. The problem is with 'Mahi mahi mahiya', an obviously middle-eastern sounding track, composed by Jatin Sharma, a man known predominantly for his remixes and as his website so eloquently portrays, for his humble origins. This track is an outright lift of Egyptian boy band Wama's super hit track, 'Ya Ghali Aliya', that was part of a similarly titled album in 2005. Just wondering...if Wama decide to take a legal recourse (whatever its worth, that is!) who should they be suing? Sony BMG? Abhijeet Sawant? Jatin Sharma? I'm curious. Considering how fantastic their album is, they should simply release it in India and simply 'make' doodh ka doodh and paani ka paani :-)

Jab koi pyar se [Non-film Album: Sayesha (1994)]

2008-05-07T01:17:00.001-07:00

Composer & Singer: Nadeem Saifi

Lifted off Mehdi Hasan's very popular track of the same name, same lyrics!

Listen to Jab koi (Nadeem) | Jab koi (Mehdi Hasan)

Nadeem Shravan were in their peak during the 90s and its in one of these binges that Nadeem Saifi decided to showcase his vocal chords to the country, in a private album titled, 'Sayesha' (1994). I still remember the tacky video with Nadeem walking alongside some private jets and singing uncomfortably. Now, I do buy the argument that this duo lifted 'cos producers demanded the lifts (to some extent!), but wonder which force demanded that Nadeem lift Mehdi Hasan's very popular track, 'Jab koi pyar se bulayega' for the lead track in this private album! I'm sure there's no 'prodoocer' here to force Nadeem to lift the Pakistani track, since this is a private album - which usually is supposed to be a form of self-expression (much like the other funny private album by Anu Malik, 'Eyes', what with its its raining, its paining rhymes!). Sad. And thoroughly annoying, since there's minimal effort on Nadeem's part to add on to the original (mild pitch tweak) and even the lyrics are largely similar!

Yalla Yalla [Non-film Album: Story of UMI (2004)]

2008-05-07T01:16:00.004-07:00

Composer: Harry Anand

Note-to-note lift from a Middle Eastern track, 'Yalla ya shabab' by Ragheb Alama (Album: 'Saharouny Leil', 2001).

Listen to Yalla Yalla | Yalla Ya Shabab

Also refer to other lifts of the same original - Anand Raaj Anand page: No. 9 and Jatin Lalit Page: No. 19. This is bloody shameless! In fact, in an interview with Screen magazine, Harry is asked, "Your new release The Story Of UMI is a remix album which claims to have one original song ‘Yalla yalla...’ Why the need for an original song in a remix album?", for which he says, "We felt it would be a good idea to put in an original song in a compilation of remixes". Thankfully, the next question is, "But ‘Yalla yalla...’ doesn’t seem original. Also, one has heard a similar song ‘Aanewala pal...’ in Plan, which has music by your big brother Anand Raaj Anand". Harry's response goes, "I agree. It’s inspired from an international hit. But I have only picked the first line of the original song, the rest is all mine....As for the similar song in Plan, it’s possible that a song can make an impact on many. And you know how it is in films, where producers insist that a music director use a particular song. As a result, you have one inspired number in umpteen films"! Oh puhleeze!

Na Jaane [Non-film Album: Na Jaane (1997)]

2008-05-07T01:16:00.003-07:00

Composer: Harry Anand, Vipin Anand, Nitin Bali

Lifted from the 1967 French track, Je T'aime' by the French composer Serge Gainsbourg.

Listen to Na Jaane | Je T'aime (Serge and Jane Birkin)

Trivia:
>> Question by Times of India journalist to Nitin Bali on the eve of his new album Baliwood's release: "Your first album Na Jaane had all original tunes, so why did you decide to go in for a remix album?
>> Excerpt from Indya.com's profile of Nitin Bali: "Confident of his voice and latent talent, Nitin recorded a demo of the song Na jaane, written by him in conjunction with a friend, Manu Chopra. His father heard the song and ..... two hours later, died"

More on Je T'aime: Je t'aime was originally recorded by Serge Gainsbourg, along with Brigitte Bardot (when they were quite an item) in 1967. But this version was not released, at Bardot's request. Not to be disheartened Serge re-recorded the track with his British girlfriend Jane Birkin. This track made its first appearance on the pairs' self-titled 1969 LP, recorded in London, with Roger Coulam providing the sleazy, cheesy organ that accompanies the fluid bass and urgent drums! The song gained notoriety when Radio 1 banned it for heavy breathing and saucy lyrics. It has since appeared everywhere from hardcore pornography to dodgy discos and advertisements.

Vote for ghaghra (Dilli shahar mein) [Non-film Album: Vote For Ghaghra (1995)]

2008-05-07T01:16:00.001-07:00

Composer: Ila Arun

Lifted from Dr Alban's 1993 track, 'Om we rembwe ike' from the album 'One Love'.

Listen to Vote for ghaghra | Om we rembwe ike

Pukaro [Non-film Album: Superuna (1983)]

2008-05-07T01:15:00.002-07:00

Composer: Bappi Lahiri, Sung by: Runa Laila

Lifted from the Tanzanian song 'Malaika', made popular by Miriam Makeba.

Listen to Pukaro | Malaika

Looks like Bappi Lahiri has lifted the Miriam Makeba number 'Malaika' much before Nadeem Shravan did in their song 'Gawah Hain' in Damini. Trivia Note: 'Malaika' is a Tanzanian song and the Kenyan singing legend Fadhili William's 1963 version of the song is supposed to be the definitive version, even though Fadhili's claims of ownership of this song is still under dispute, long after his death! Miriam Makeba is credited with spreading this song beyond Africa!

Mohabbat Karle Re [Non-film Album: Mohabbat Karle]

2008-05-07T01:15:00.001-07:00

Composer: Shiamak Davar, Sung by: Shiamak Davar

Copied from African singer Angelique Kidjo's song, 'Adouma'.

Listen to Mohabbat karle re | Adouma

Adouma was part Angelique 1994 album, 'Aye'. Santana has also recently done a cover version of this song in the album, 'Shaman', with due credit to Angelique, of course!

Pehle to kabhi kabhi [Non-film Album: Dil ke tukde hazar hue]

2008-05-07T01:14:00.000-07:00

Composer: Altaf Raja and Vishnu Deva, Sung by: Altaf Raja

Ripped in total from Pakistani singer Rahim Shah's song 'Ghum'.

Listen to Pehle to kabhi (Altaf) | Ghum (Rahim Shah)

The surprise is that even Rahim Shah's version isn't original! It is supposed to be an old Afghani song called 'Tappa' which was later sung by the famous Pushto singer, Haroon Bacha. Rahim's was just an updated pop version! Its unlikely that Altaf and Vishnu have got hold of the older version and improvised on it. But the fact remains that Altaf and Vishnu Deva have shamelessly plagiarized on somebody else's composition with no credits to the original whatsoever.

Kitni Hai Pyari [Film: Parinda, 1989]

2008-05-07T01:11:00.002-07:00

Sambodh Kaul had mailed me asking me if the German track, 'Jodler der Berge' sound like a Hindi song. After much listening and help from a few friends, I zeroed in on Pancham's 'Kitni hai pyari' (Parinda, 1989) as the Hindi track that sort of resembles the German track. The source track was, in my knowledge, part of an album called "Most beautiful mountain yodels" (but could have first been in a different album much earlier) and was probably made famous by Kastelruther Spatzen. So, what do you think? The similarity is flimsy? Or do you believe that RDB might have got the seed for his track from the German track? Lemme know!

Listen to Kitni hai pyari | Jodler der Berge

Chala jaata hoon [Film: Mere Jeevan Saathi, 1972]

2008-05-07T01:11:00.001-07:00

This Pancham track sounds very similar to the German track, 'Goodbye eloisa' by the band 'Flippers'. But, even after an exhaustive search I couldn't trace the year of release of the German track. Some sites claim it as 80s but then the song might be part of a compilation album and the date might be wrong in that case. Also, another listing claims that the tune is traditional and not scored by Flippers themselves. So, if you are able to find the year of release, please do lemme know! Till then, I suppose I gotto give the benefit of doubt to Mr Burman.

Listen to Chala jaata hoon | Goodbye eloisa

Update: The discography available in Flippers' official website lists 'Goodbye eloisa' in one of their 1991 album. So, until someone can prove that the Flippers' version is a cover version of a traditional song, this song remains an original or even could be termed as a case for reverse plagiarism!

O Hansini [Film: Zahreela Insaan]

2008-05-07T01:10:00.000-07:00

R D Burman's classic 'Zehreela Insaan' (1974) track surprisingly has shades of the theme track from the 1971 movie 'Summer of 42' (Composed by Michel Legrand). But yes, I'd not want to classify this as a lift and add it in the 'Coincidences' section since the similarity is restricted to part of the first line and the another subsequent line where 'O Hansini' is sung with a slight variation (Listen to the opening and from point 00:31 onwards in the English track). Mail me your opinion! Interestingly, Anu Malik has used this theme track almost as-is in the prelude to his Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi (1973) track, 'Tere Dar Par Sanam'...this one definitely goes into Anu's Copied list!

Listen to O Hansini | Tere Dar Par Sanam | Theme from Summer of 42

Le Gayi Le Gayi [Film: Dil to pagal hai]

2008-05-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

Is the Dil To Pagal Hai number, 'Le gayi le gayi' inspired? Well, a friend sent me info on a song by the noted Arabic singer Farid-el-Atrache (also spelt as Farid al Atrash)...the song was 'Ya Habaybi Ya Ghaybin'. Incidentally there is a cover verison of this song by the Morrocan-Spanish band, Alabina and was called 'Vengan vengan'. Some dates...Dil to pagal hai came out in 1997 while Alabina's cover version came out in 1999. Farid's original version was released in the soundtrack of the movie 'Nagham Fi Hayati' in 1974. So if at all there's a lift, Uttam Singh must've sourced it from Farid's original version! Listen to the 3 clips below and check out if you think there's a lift and if so how much! Lemme know what you think! Thanks to Sreeni for the info on Farid's original!

Listen to Le gayi le gayi | Ya Habaybi Ya Ghaybin | Vengan vengan

Ishq Bina [Film: Taal]

2008-05-07T01:08:00.002-07:00

Karan Thapar talks about A R Rahman's 'Bombay Dreams' in his column in Hindustan Times..."One of the songs - Love’s Never Easy - reminds me of something I’ve heard before. During the performance I can’t figure it out. But afterwards a taxi driver does. Rahman’s tune is uncannily similar to Don McClean’s Starry Starry Night". 'Love's never easy' is the English version of Rahman's song in Taal, 'Ishq Bina'. Wonder why Karan didn't notice the similarity when Taal was released...well, that's besides the point. Don McClean's 'Starry starry night' was from his 1971 album, 'American Pie' was also called 'Vincent' since it was a tribute to Vincent Van Gogh's 1889 painting, 'Starry nights'.

Listen to Love's never easy | Ishq Bina | Starry starry night (Vincent)

Madrasa Suthi Pakka [Film: May Madham]

2008-05-07T01:08:00.001-07:00

Another WHAM - A R Rahman connection? A R Rahman's number, 'Madrasa suthi pakka poren' from the 1994 movie May Madham, seemingly sounds a bit like WHAM's 'Club Tropicana' (1983)! Does it? Let me know!

Listen to Madrasa suthi pakka | Club Tropicana

Sevvanam [Film: Pavitra]

2008-05-07T01:07:00.002-07:00

Listen to A R Rahman's, 'Pavitra' song, 'Sevvanam...' and WHAM's 'Wake me up'! Coincidence?

Listen to Sevvanam | Wake me up

Kaisi Hai Yeh [Film: Dil Chahta Hai]

2008-05-07T01:07:00.001-07:00

Another coincidence - the reason why I call it a coincidence, is simple. The credibility factor of the composing trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and the fact that the similarity is minimal. But makes for interesting listening as well! Dil Chahta Hai's 'Kaisi hai yeh rut' (Sung by Srinivas) sounds (at least the beginning!) like 2 songs - The Beatles' number 'Two of us' (from the album 'Let it be' - the latest cover version of this number is in the OST of the movie, 'Iam Sam' starring and sung by Sean Penn) and Cindy Lauper's 1983 number 'Time after time' which has, on last count, about 50+ cover versions! Don't expect any alarming instances of similarity...as I mentioned earlier, its merely a coincidence!

Listen to Kaisi hai yeh | Two of us | Time after time

Mein shayar to nahin [Film: Bobby]

2008-05-07T01:06:00.002-07:00

Let me make it clear at the outset that I'm still not very sure about this one!! I happened to listen to this Latin classic, 'El choclo' (called 'Kiss of fire' in its English version, has been sung by many people including Connie Francis and Helmut Lotti) after a really long time and I was instantly reminded of Bobby's 'Mein shayar to nahin'! Though I should add that the kind of inspiration (if at all) is mighty impressive.
Let me know what you think!

Listen to Mein shayar to nahin | El choclo (Helmut Lotti)

Mera Dil Tere Liye [Film: Aashiqui (1990)]

2008-05-07T01:06:00.001-07:00

Aashiqui's (1990) 'Mera dil tere liye' has a recurring 'O o o...' kind of phrase that comes just after '...dhadaktha hai...' that sounds amazingly close to a similar phrase in Australian singer John Farnham's 'You're the voice' (1986)! But thats it! There's nothing common between both the songs otherwise! I got to give the benefit of doubt to Nadeem Shravan regardless of their shady track record.

Listen to Mera dil tere liye | You're the voice

Mella Mella [Film: Vaazhkai (1984)]

2008-05-07T01:05:00.002-07:00

There is this rather old song by Ilayaraja in the movie Vaazhkai (1984), the song, 'mella mella'. Its a trademark masterpiece from Ilayaraja with fabulous violin preludes et all, a mesmerizing number, in short. It sounds rather similar to a song 'Celestial soda pop' by new-age/ synth artist Ray Lynch. The album of Ray Lynch in which you'd find this song (Deep Breakfast) came out in 1984 too! Inspired or mere coincidence? Another point to note is that the tune of Mella mella was first used as a background theme in the 1983 Kannada film, Pallavi Anupallavi by Ilayaraja (Maniratnam's feature film debut). Considering this usage predates Celestial pop soda, the inspiration angle is clearly ruled out!

Listen to Mella mella | Celestial soda pop

Tara Rum Pum [Film: Doli Sajake Rakhna]

2008-05-07T01:05:00.001-07:00

The Champs number 'too much tequila' is used somewhere deep inside this song by Rahman! The song is 'tara rum pum' from A R Rahman's Doli sajake rakhna. For ease of listening I've edited the song to its relevant portion and so on, so that you get to listen to the part which resembles our tequila song, first! Now, I personally find it unlikely that Rahman sits down and decides to use the tequila song in the second line of para 2...which is why I felt it was a coincidence!

Listen to Too much tequila | Tara rum pum (starts from the relevant portion)

Tu hi tu [Film: Kabhi na kabhi]

2008-05-07T01:04:00.000-07:00

Composer: A R Rahman

The beginning of the song sounds so much like 'The Scarborough Fair' by Simon and Garfunkel!

Listen to Tu hi tu | Scarborough Fair

Interesting. The Hindi tune is pretty much carnatic in pattern and the similarity ends after the first 4 - 5 words!

Rasta dekhe tera [Film: Humshakal]

2008-05-07T01:01:00.002-07:00

Composer: R D Burman

The song which inspired this number is the Beatles song 'In my life' from their album Rubber Soul (1965). The Hindi film was released in the year 1974.

Listen to Rasta dekhe mera | In my life

Initially added under the lifted songs page for RDB, the similarity is way too small or insignificant to call it a lift.

Showbiz (2007)

2008-05-07T01:01:00.001-07:00

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 ( Sanjeev Darshan page)!

Yamma yamma [Chinatown (1962)]

2008-05-07T01:00:00.002-07:00

Composer: Ravi

Lifted from the Persian folk track, 'Mastom mastom'.

Listen to Yamma yamma | Mastom Mastom - Pari Zangeneh | Mitra

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!

Aarzoo hai [Kaisay Kahein (2007)]

2008-05-07T01:00:00.001-07:00

Composers: Imran Ali and Subhendu Mukherjee

Lifted from Chandrabindoo's 'Aaj abar' from the 1999 album 'Twaker Jatna Nin'.

Listen to Aarzoo hai | Aaj abar

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!

Title Song [Life mein kabhi kabhi (2007)]

2008-05-07T00:57:00.005-07:00

Composer: Lalit Pandit

Lifted from Amr Diab's 2000 track 'Eni alem allah'.

Listen to Life mein kabhi kabhi | Eni alem allah

Already lifted by Sanjeev Darshan for the 2003 film Aanch, in the song, 'Dil ke armaan'! Check out Sanjeev Darshan page,

Subah subah [Yash (1996)]

2008-05-07T00:57:00.003-07:00

Composer: Tabun Sutradhar

Racy version of a Bengali folk track, 'Boli o nonodi'

Listen to Subah subah | 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.

Bol bol bol [Baap Bete (1959)]

2008-05-07T00:57:00.001-07:00

Composer: Madan Mohan

Lifted off Paul Anka's 'Diana'

Listen to Bol bol bol | Diana

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.

Kaun Aaya...meri Neeta [Dil deke dekho (1959)]

2008-05-07T00:56:00.005-07:00

Composer: Usha Khanna

Direct lift from Paul Anka's 'Diana'

Listen to Kaun aaya | Diana

Direct and blatant. Check the next listing for another lift of the same original!

Mele chaliyan [Yahaan (2005)]

2008-05-07T00:56:00.003-07:00

Composer: Shantanu Moitra

Lifted directly off a traditional Punjabi wedding track with the same lyrics, made famous by Musarrat Nazir.

Listen to Mele chaliyan (Yahaan) | Mele Chaliyan (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!

Pal pal [Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006)]

2008-05-07T00:56:00.001-07:00

Composer: Shantanu Moitra

Inspired by Cliff Richard's evergreen 'Theme for a dream' (1961)

Listen to Pal pal | Theme for a dream

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

Ola Ola [Jaana - Lets fall in love (2006)]

2008-05-07T00:55:00.005-07:00

Composer: Guru Sharma

Blatant lift from Modern Talking's 2000 track, 'No Face No Name No Number'

Listen to Ola ola | No face no name no number

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').

Sajna [Waisa bhi hota hai (2003)]

2008-05-07T00:55:00.003-07:00

Composer: Shibani Kashyap

The prelude (opening) used directly from Thomas Dolby's 'I love you goodbye' from the 1992 album, 'Astronauts and Heretics'

Listen to Sajna | I love you goodbye

Considering the fact the main tune is completely different, is this a homage?

Urzu urzu durkut [Yahaan (2005)]

2008-05-07T00:55:00.001-07:00

Composer: Shantanu Moitra

Inspired by Altan's 'Dulaman'

Listen to Urzu urzu durkut | Dulaman

Inspired. Dulaman was part of Altan's 1993 album Island Angel.

Pyar ki kasam [Dil deke dekho (1959)]

2008-05-07T00:54:00.005-07:00

Composer: Usha Khanna

Copied from Ivory Joe Hunter's 1956 hit 'Since I met you baby'!

Listen to Pyar ki kasam | Since I met you baby

Blatant lift!

'Dillagi' and 'Marjawan' [Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005)]

2008-05-07T00:54:00.003-07:00

Composer: Himesh Reshamiyya

Lifted off Ali Zafar's Rangeen and Faakhir's Marjawan, respectively!

Listen to Dillagi | Rangeen
Listen to Marjawan (ABA) | Marjawan (Faakhir)

Ali Zafar's 'Rangeen' from his 2003 album, 'Huqa Pani' while Faakhir's 'Marjawan' from his 2002 album, 'Aatish'.

'Kaisi paheli hai yeh' and 'Soona man ka' [Parineeta (2005)]

2008-05-07T00:54:00.001-07:00

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'!

Listen to Kaisi paheli hai yeh | A kiss to build a dream on
Listen to Soona man ka (edited) | 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.

Tridev Theme [Tridev (1989)]

2008-05-07T00:52:00.001-07:00

Composer: Kalyanji Anandji (Viju Shah)

Lifted from Pet Shop Boys' 1984 track, 'One more chance'

Listen to Tridev theme | One more chance

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!

Didi Tera Devar [Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994)]

2008-05-07T00:51:00.004-07:00

Composer: Ram Laxman

Inspired by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's 'Saare Nabian'

Listen to Didi Tera Devar | Saare Nabian (Relevant edited portion containing prelude and ending)

Partly inspired with adequate improvisations from Ram Laxman.

Daud Title Song [Daud (1999)]

2008-05-07T00:51:00.003-07:00

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.

Listen to Daud Title Song (Remo) | Daud Title Song (Usha) | Rich Girl | If I were a rich man

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!

Nimbuda Nimbuda [Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)]

2008-05-07T00:51:00.001-07:00

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.

Gela Gela [Aitraaz (2004)]

2008-05-07T00:50:00.003-07:00

Composer: Himesh Reshammiya

Inspired by R Kelly's 'Thoia Thoing'

Listen to Gela Gela | Thoia Thoing

R Kelly's track was part of his 2003 album, 'Chocolate Factory'

Shava shava [Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham (2001)]

2008-05-07T00:50:00.001-07:00

Composer: Aadesh Shrivastava

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'..

Listen to Shava Shava (mid portion) | Batiyaan 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 :-)

Yeh rut yeh raat jawan [Sailaab (1954)]

2008-05-07T00:49:00.004-07:00

Composer: Mukul Roy

Inspired by Perez Prado's 'El Negro Zumbon', also used under the name 'El Bayon' in the 1951 Italian cult classic, 'Anna'.

Listen to Yeh rut yeh raat jawan | El Negro Zumbon

Thandi hawa yeh chandni suhani [Jhumroo (1961)]

2008-05-07T00:49:00.003-07:00

Composer: Kishore Kumar

Lifted of Julius La Rosa's 1955 classic, 'Domani'.

Listen to Thandi hawa | Domani

Koyi aayega [Asambhav (2004)]

2008-05-07T00:49:00.001-07:00

Composer: Viju Shah

Partly inspired by the 60s Noor Jehan track, 'Mahi aave ga' that was remixed and resung by Shazia Manzoor in 2000.

Listen to Koyi aayega | Mahi aave ga