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October.04.2008 @ This week's update is more about the history of the source than it is about the Indian version! Shankar Jaikishan's 1965 track, Jaane chaman' from Gumnaam - yes, the same Gumnaam which had its theme track lifted off Henry Mancini's Charade theme - seems to be inspired by the very famous Nat King Cole number, Autumn Leaves. Shankar Jaikishan Indianize the popular tune in their Hindi version with by rounding it off in the third line. Quite obvious, when you listen to the Hindi version, but this now-considered-as-a-jazz-standard was first sung under the title, Les feuilles mortes (Dead Leaves) by French singer/actor Yves Montand in 1945, with lyrics by Jacques Prévert, in Marcel Carné's film Les Portes de la Nuit. The song was composed by the Hungarian composer Joseph Cosma (1905-69) and the lyrics were by the French poet Jacques Prévert (1900-77). The English lyrics, (Autumn Leaves) were written in 1947 by the American songwriter Johnny Mercer and the first official English version was sung by....nay, not Cole, by one of France's greatest singers, Édith Piaf! Cole's version, incidentally, was in 1956, over the title sequence of the Joan Crawford starrer, Autumn Leaves! Thanks to Aditi Banerjee for pointing out the Jaane chaman - Autumn Leaves connection. Listen to Jaane chaman | Les feuilles mortes (Yves Montand) | Autumn Leaves (Édith Piaf) September.28.2008 @ I'm sure there are tons of Bappi Lahiri lifts that are yet to be listed in this website - Aag hi aag's 'Chori chori' for instance (lifted unabashedly from Bangles' cult hit, Walk like an Egyptian - I must have got at least 100 different mails asking me to add this, by the way). The only reason why they aren't there in the site is because, after working with lifts that are a bit more exotic and give me the pleasure of discovery, such obvious lifts are terribly boring and I need to drag myself from my busy schedule to even get into editing the audio files and add them. In any case, I value the discovery and excitement more than making ItwoFS the most comprehensive site listing plagiarized music. So, while Pratik Varma sent me two of Bappi da's lifts (one was 'Chori chori') the second one interested me. The song is 'Dil mera todo na' from the 1987 B Subash film starring Mithun, Dance Dance. So, how do you translate 'Dil mera todo na' in English? 'Don't break my heart'? Bingo! UB40's 1985 hit single, 'Don't break my heart' acts as the inspiration for this Hindi number and its a pretty neat adaptation but for obvious giveaways like the key hook's literal translation and tune. Listen to Dil mera todo na | Don't break my heart @ The second addition this week should strictly be added under coincidences (given the length of similarity) and I intend doing it that way too! Unless there's a barrage of mails asking me to do otherwise. The source is British New Wave musician, Thomas Dolby's 'She blinded me with science'! The Tamil song that sounds alarmingly similar to this track's opening - complete with the rhythm (synth hook in the original) and the tune of the first 2 lines is....'Dosth bada dosth' from Saroja, with music by Yuvan Shankar Raja! Hmmm...so, what do you think? Mail me! Thanks to Manoj Varkey for this info - excellent ear you've got man! Listen to Dosth bada dosth | She blinded me with science September.21.2008 @ This seems to be the season of Indian composers ripping off UK-based Bhangra artists! After the Kulwinder Kally - Himesh imbroglio, here's another, starring none other than out favorite, Pritam! His Kidnap (Milliblog music review) may be making more noise for being Imran's second film and for liberating hitherto gharelu Minissha Lamba, but he seems to have overtaken all of them by seeking inspiration for the Adnan Sami song, Haan Ji, from UK-based Punjabi singer Sukshinder Shinda's 2005 number, Punjabi Clap, from the album Balle! To be fair to Pritam, he has worked on the base tune but the backgrounds and a part of the tune is an obvious give away. So, will Sukshinder follow Kulwinder's steps and sue Pritam and co? Let see! Thanks to Rohan Malik for the info! Listen to Haan ji | Punjabi Clap September.17.2008 Breaking news! Here we go. 3 weeks after ItwoFS reports the lift in Karzzzz's 'Soniye de', Kulwinder Kally decides to take legal recourse and sues Himesh and Sameer for Rs. 5 crores! While Kulwinder says that he owns the rights to 'Soniye je', Himesh says its T-series who own the rights. If T-series can prove it, I'm sure the case will be dismissed. But what Himesh says in his defense ("I have only sung this song. The songs, 'Ek haseena thi' and 'Soniye je tere nal' are both songs of Mr Bhushan Kumar and we have permission from Mr Bhushan Kumar for them") is typical filmi-speak. He uttered a similar excuse when pointed out that 2 of his songs from Aashiq Banaya Aapne are lifted - he simply blamed the director. My questions, then are - Where was Himesh when the tapes/ CDs were released with source credit only to Ek haseena thi and credited him for all other tracks? Where was he when the promos of Soniye were aired all across the TV, giving Himesh the blanket credit for all compositions in the film? Isn't that clearly misrepresentation? If he was so particular about his name not being dragged into such controversies, shouldn't he have insisted to Bhushan that his name should have been avoided for this track? So, T-Series will credit HMV Saregama because they own the rights to Ek haseena thi and is a known/ popular track - HMV may sue them otherwise. But, if its Kulwinder, they don't care huh? Kulwinder could also be suing Himesh/ Sameer since that would make news. If he sued T-series, it may not have made as much interesting news, I suppose. How did Kulwinder assume that its Himesh who owns the rights - doesn't the record label own music rights in majority of films in India? So, is Kally doing this for publicity? Even if he did, it may not be entirely pointless, since it'd at least expose plagiarism in Indian film music. After the Ram Sampath - Roshans saga, this is the second case where both the parties involved are Indians/ of Indian origin, unlike the earlier news of lawsuits involving an Indian composer (usually Pritam!) and an artist from outside India. The former seems to be yielding better results. It just goes on the prove two critical updates - that artists in India are taking their creative rights seriously and that they have started taking the legal recourse for issues regarding plagiarism. The Ram Sampath - Roshans case is a landmark, from that point of view and I'm happy that Kulwinder Kally is making an effort to not just get his name on his track, but also get compensated for the plagiarism. But, on the other hand, this is rather strange. Pritam has been the most prolific plagiarizer in India, in recent times and he has not been brought to book yet - despite multiple lawsuits from artists outside India. Thanks to Bhavez for the tip on the news about the lawsuit. September.14.2008 Here's a quick follow-up on another version of Hafanama in Indian films! Looks like Anu Malik has one more version of Hafanama - the track, 'Kalyug ki laila' in that god-awful soundtrack of No Entry. Its interesting to note that the bastardization of Hafanama in Yaaraana's 'Rabbi re ralli' was more kiddish, where Anu Malik adds a predictable line 2 that deviates from the original's 2nd line (Dil churaake mera tu door kahaan chali) perhaps to go with the playful nature of the song - what with Rishi singing/ playing with Madhuri Dixit who was intent on acting as if she was a mannequin. Compare it with this No Entry track - its almost a direct replica of the first two lines of Hafanama, no twists whatsoever, besides those ominous backgrounds! Thanks to Yaju Arya's prompt tip - very good find. Listen to Kalyug ki laila The second update that cannot wait for the next week is about Vidyasagar and one of his programming assistants, Stephen Devassy. I've got to be honest here - I wouldn't have discovered Stephen's awesome album, 'Romanz A' if not for this lift - or whichever way we choose to call it. This was first pointed out by ItwoFS regular, Vimal Vijayan - the song from Vidyasagar's recent, 'Raaman Thediya Seethai', Ippave ippave, has a lovely piano prelude that seems to be used as-is from the track, Forgiven, in Romanz A. Devassy's album has been in the market for over an year and there are murmurs that Devassy was not involved in the making of this particular song, even though he collaborates with Vidyasagar quite often and is even credited in the CDs. So, this one is in Vidyasagar's court - even though the tune is his own (with Ilayaraja's shades, but quite beautiful). Thankfully, this gives me an opportunity to introduce Devassy's album to ItwoFS readers who may not have known about it at all. Here's where you can buy it online from, by the way! Listen to Ippave ippave prelude | Forgiven (Romanz A) September.12.2008 @ A Panchamda track addition in ItwoFS after a really long time. A Pancham addition is always special since its usually more interesting and nuanced than other lifts! This one comes from Lalitha, who posted in the ItwoFS Yahoo Group. Kal kya hoga from Kasme Vaade (1978) has been alleged to be inspired by Beatles' 1965 track, 'We can work it out' though its completely off the mark, since both the tracks do not have anything in common. The track is actually significantly inspired by the 1975 song, 'Hafanama' by Afric Simone, a singer from Mozambique. The vocal style is intact (sung by Pancham himself) and the tune goes through minimal changes - just that Pancham includes a hilarious extended prelude. Other well known songs of Afric Simone includes 'Ramaya'. Listen to Kal kya hoga | Hafanama PS: I also hear strains of Anu Malik's 'Rabbi re ralli' from Yaaraana (1995) in both the above tunes! Very interesting. Listen to Rabbi re ralli September.07.2008 @ Very interesting feature on 'The 8 most blatantly plagiarized songs'! Nothing to do with Indian music, but everything to do with a person like me, who loves digging into charges of plagiarism by listening to both the tracks - the copied and the source, and go 'whoa' on the similarities! @ After last week's opening of the pandora's box that is inspiration from folk music, this week's update is dedicated to ItwoFS regular Jamshid Mahmood, who has been championing the cause for the original folk songs that have been 'used' in Hindi films with no credits whatsoever. I do understand that the original's composer and year are unknown in many cases, but that doesn't mean they can be passed off as Laxmikant Pyarelal's composition, for instance. They could have been easily credited as 'Traditional folk song', but I suppose the Hindi composers chose not to do so. Jamshid points out to two such instances where the resultant Hindi song became phenomenally popular - Bobby's 'Akhiyan ko rehne de' (Laxmikant Pyarelal, 1973) and Lekin's 'Yara sili sili' (Hridaynath Mangeshkar, 1991). Both are inspired off popular folk songs - 'Akhiyan nu' and 'Chori chori' respectively. and I've added Pakistani singer Reshma's versions of both the folk originals. While editing Reshma's Chori chori, I started humming something else and ended up with Bappi Lahiri's 'Chori chori' from Dalal! Yes, that delightful melody from Bappi da in that god-awful film. Looks like Bappi da has very cleverly used the same source to come up with a fabulous number! Listen to Akhiyon ko rehne do | Akhiyan nu (Reshma) Listen to Yara sili sili | Chori chori (Dalal) | Chori chori (Reshma) Permanent posts! @ I've been trying to trace the originals of the following songs - any info that you think would help, please do mail me. - Chalte Chalte - Chalte Chalte [Bappi Lahiri] - Supposed to be lifted off a German folk song. - Anari - Woh chand khila [Shankar Jaikishen] - A very popular western classical piece, has also been used as a background piece by A R Rahman in the movie 'May Madham'. @ Also refer to this page, which says, "He (Raj Kapoor) never hesitated to adapt tunes (such as 'Is libe dis, I love you' and 'Dost dost na raha', both in 'Sangam') which had appealed to him". So what are the sources of these tracks? If you know, lemme know! @ I'm looking for an audio clip (any format, size) of the following track... [1] The All India Radio FM signature tune, that goes 'A.I.R FM Rainbow...all the time...' @ This is more of a personal search than about a lift...it could be a possible lift too, btw! The song from the Maniratnam production, 'Five Star'...titled 'Rayile rayile' has a generous sprinkling of some world music stuff. For some reason Azerbaijani music pops in my mind, though its only a wild guess. Could anybody recognize the style/ country of this music? It can be heard in the one of the sites below! Raaga | Smashhits | Musicindiaonline (5th song) Please do mail me in case you have these tracks or know more about these! Enter your search terms Web itwofs Submit search form Hindi Anu Malik Anand Milind Anand Raaj Anand Bappi Lahiri Jatin Lalit Kalyanji Anandji Laxmikant Pyarelal Nadeem Shravan OP Nayyar Pritam Chakravarty Rajesh Roshan RD Burman Salil Chaudhry SD Burman Sandeep Chowta Sanjeev Darshan Shankar Jaikishen Hindi - others Tamil A R Rahman Deva Ilayaraja Karthikraja Yuvan S. Raja Tamil - others Assorted Coincidences Indipop Advt. jingle lifts Telugu Trivia

Disclaimer and help on audio files: The site demonstrates similarities in music, usually compared between an Indian composition with that of a composition from another part of the world or within India. The final interpretation on what constitutes a similarity is entirely my assumption. The similarity thus deduced is not based on a purely scientific basis like note-to-note comparison nor am I musically knowledgeable enough to do that. The attempt here is to merely showcase similarities that are obvious to a normal person with no/ limited musical sense, in other words, the lowest common denominator basis for understanding similarities. This is also the reason why I use the terms 'lift', 'copied' or 'plagiarized' and not 'infringed' since this site is not ideally conceived as a legal proof for music plagiarism. The Audio files included here are for demonstration purposes only and are merely edited clippings, mostly lasting not more than 30 seconds. The quality in which they are edited is also ensured to be minimal so that they may not replace actual, full fledged digital versions. The clips are not meant to infringe any copyright whatsoever. Please download and install the free Real Player to listen to these song files.

© Karthik S, 2007. The content of ItwoFS.com is under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. You may use/ quote/ reproduce content from this site provided you add a link back to the index page of this website (http://www.itwofs.com) next to the portion used/ quoted/ reproduced.