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Trivia
Trivia that couldn't be
listed in any other section in this site!
1
Anni
Title Music / Paul Mauriat's Mamy Blue
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?
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!
Thakshak's
Toofan Ki Raat / Paula Abdul's 'My Love Is For Real'
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!
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.
4
Mr
Romeo's 'Mellisaye' / Maurice Ravel's Bolero
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!
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.
5
Interlude
from Taj Mahal's 'Karisal Tharisal'
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!
'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.
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!
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!
Malayalam
song from Millennium Stars and a ghazal by Hariharan
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!
Kitna
pyaar tumhe karte hain from Ek Ladka Ek ladki
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!
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!
Note: After listening to Meola's music, if you are curious to know
more about him, check
this out!
12
Kaho
Na Kaho (Amir Jamal)/ Tamally Ma'ak (Amr Diab)
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 toKaho 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 toDaleko
Daleko] Japan: Resung in Arabic by the Japanese band 'Warna' and released
as a video. Watch the video at this
Amr Diab site!
13
Kaadhal
Konden, the movie, copied off 'Klassenfahrt', a German
movie!
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...:-)
14
Tumse
Milke (Main Hoon Naa) / In Zaire (Johnny Wakelin)
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.
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!
15
Thadayam Title Track (Sun TV -
Serial)
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!
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?
Black Eyed Peas' 'Don't phunk
with my heart' (2005)
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'!
Laxmikant Pyarelal's only
Malayalam score for the film 'Poonila Mazha' - Song, 'Thak
thaank' (1997)
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!
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.
Himesh Reshammiya's 'Odhni od ke naachoon' from Tere Naam
(2004)
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!
A R Rahman's 'Ottagatha Kattikko'
(Gentleman, 1993) and
La Caution's 'Pilotes
Automatqies', 2005.
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?
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'!
22
The CNBC Panel discussion on plagiarism in Indian film music!
My
co-panelists were...take a guess! Pritam, Anu Malik, noted copyright
lawyer Praveen Anand and UTV head Ronnie Screwvala! I joined them from
CNBC's Bangalore studio.
Karan Thapar chaired the discussion and was, for some reason, stuck on
Hattrick's 'Wicket Bacha' and its seemingly direct similarity with Harry
Belafonte's 1952 chartbuster 'Man smart (woman smarter)'! With all due respect to Karan,
I felt that was an example completely off the mark. I'm with Pritam on
this instance when he said Wicket bacha is in the calypso genre and not
a direct tune lift. Couldn't agree with you more, Pritam! Listen to Wicket bacha |
Man smart
(woman smarter)
...and decide for yourself!
Pritam was surprisingly shy and soft spoken, quite contrary to the image
I had of him, in my mind. On the other hand Anu Malik was completely the
opposite of what I had expected (mostly from his press interviews). He
did hammer on his impressive track record, how he has survived many
composers and generations through his hard work etc., which was typical
of the persona we know from his interviews.
But surprisingly, when
Karan asked him pointedly if he thinks itwofs.com is actually
discrediting Indian composers, he actually disagreed and said, if
anything, it inspires him to do more original work and he's happy that
an online watchdog is keeping track. This he felt gave him the impetus
to do original tunes! Not bad Anu, way to go! Great attitude!
Praveen made it clear that the whole set up is to blame and every one
will be made responsible, right from the producer, director, composer,
music publisher etc. if a copyright lawsuit were to happen. Watch the video of this panel discussion...check out the About ItwoFS page for video links!
23
RMIM
Puraskar 2006
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!
24
Shing nei tobu (Lukochuri)
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 toShing 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!
25
Interlude in Saroja samaan nikaalo (Chennai
600028)
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!
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 toBoogie 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!")
26
Paris Hilton's debut song's producers
sued for plagiarism!
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 toStars are blind|Kingston Town
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 toStrawberry hoon main |
Sania badnaam
28
Jhoom barabar jhoom title song?
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!
29
Uzbek version of A R Rahman's Saathiya
track, 'Aye udi udi'.
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?
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!
Ehsaan says in
amail that the trio have nothing to do
with either the background music or teaser pieces for the
film. Thought as much. Relieved!
33
Pritam reusing his own tracks!
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 toMera 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 toJal jal
ke
|
Hai ishq |
Arabyion Ana
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 toPut you on the
game (relevant edit) |
Baagon mein
35
Hum to aise hai bhaiyya (Laaga
Chunari mein daag)!
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 toHum to
aise hain | Mary Ann
36
Sue me, sue you!
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!
37
Aaja Nachle trivia!
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
38
Ottmar Liebert and ItwoFS!
Ottmar Liebert
mentions ItwoFS in his
blog. The 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.
39
Bollywood gets a chance to undo a wrong!
Here's another chance
for Bollywood to prove that they're indeed changing
for the better! The recent news that Karz is being remade
with Himesh Reshammiya in the lead poses some unique issues
- not for the people involved - Himesh and director Satish
Kaushik, but for ItwoFS. The original had a plot lifted
straight out of 'The
Reincarnation of Peter Proud' (1975) - a fact that
Subash Ghai, the maker of the 'original' (!) conveniently
ignored to mention like so many other Indian film makers
before him. And of course, the other bit of news is that
3 songs from the 'original' will be re-used by Himesh.
These are Dard-e-dil, Ek hasina thi and Om shanti om. A
quick glance at the Laxmikant Pyarelal page here would
reveal that Ek hasina thi and Om shanti om tunes are pretty
blatant lifts. So, will Satish Kaushik and Himesh utilize
this opportunity to credit the original film maker and
composers? Or will they continue their flagrant abuse of
copyrights as usual? Even the producers, T-series, could
look at buying the rights of these tracks and script
officially, and credit the originals - as a gesture of
showcasing that Bollywood is changing. Asking for too much,
am I :-) By the way, this is
Himesh's take on plagiarism - "I see to it that I compose
fresh tunes. When you copy an English song then you can't
give your feel to it because it has been done by someone
else".
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!
41
Halla Bol promo and Van Halen!
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
42
Bhram and Gautam da!
Here's something that
looks like an after-effect of ItwoFS. The music of director Pavan Kaul's 'Bhram' was
released recently and it has music composed by Pritam (2
songs) and Siddharth Suhas (4 songs). The most interesting
thing is Pritam's second track, Sonu Nigam-sung, 'Jaane kyon
tanha ho gaye'. The CD sleeve actually has a
black patch
pasted over the credit note of this song and it says, 'Based
on Gautam Chatterjee's Ghare Ferar Gaan (Asha Audio)'. Now,
whether Pritam got Times Music to 'paste' this over an
uncredited, earlier CD note...I'm not sure. It sure looks
like it! If such after-thought came as a result of this
website...wow! Listen toJaane kyon |
Ghore
pherar gaan This addition has mere academic intention -
for people to listen to a sample of the original and
appreciate Mohiner Ghoraguli's (Gautam da's) brilliance!
43
Roshans pay for plagiarism!
Part One! Composer Ram Sampath takes the
Roshans to court over plagiarism! DNA reports, "The trouble
began in March when Sampath heard the title track of Krazzy4
being played on a music channel. His lawyer Virendra
Tulzapurkar said that his client bought a CD of the album
and was shocked to find that the title track, a song titled
‘Break Free’ and their remix versions were “directly lifted”
from his music for ‘Thump’ without taking his permission or
giving him any credit. In fact, credit for the music has
been given to music composer Rajesh Roshan" -
More here!
In fact, as many as 5 ItwoFS regulars (Jamshid
Mahmood, Yash Sagar, S. Sethuraj, Samhan and Manu Vyas)
have been crying hoarse about this alleged lift ever since
the Krazzy 4 soundtrack was out. What do you think? Does Ram
have a case here?
Part Two. Ok, I'm touched! After that post
earlier today where I reported a DNA news piece on Ram
Sampat suing the Roshans, there was a flood of mails asking
me my opinion, as the person running ItwoFS! So, here goes!
First, the reason why I haven't added this even after 5
ItwoFS regulars mailing me. We are so used to lifts/
inspirations in ad jingles from rhythm loops that I was
waiting to find out if the Sony Thump piece is on the same
lines - that is, to find out if Ram had used an existing
loop to create his jingle - I do not want to be caught
alleging plagiarism when the source itself may be inspired.
But, now that Ram has sued the Roshans, I assume the Thump
is his own creation. Given that, my personal opinion is that
Rajesh Roshan is guilty. The main tune that goes, 'Break
free gotta get some chutti, to do zanjeeron ko...'
and its subsequent line in a progressive scale can be found
clearly in the background of the Thump jingle. The beats/
rhythm is identical too. Based on this, I'd say that there's
a reasonable amount of evidence here that points to the fact
that the seed for the Krazzy 4 song germinated from the Sony
Ericsson Thump commercial's jingle.
This is a clear case of plagiarism and is appalling in two
respects - one, the guts with which the Roshans have openly
lifted this and have been going about promoting this in the
hope that no one will care. And two, its a shame that they
have lifted from their own team, a fellow, contemporary
composer from Bollywood. Ram Sampat deserves the kind of
money he's asking for, and more. I hope something happens to
this law suit and we have at least one Indian, legal
precedence for music plagiarism! Listen toBreak Free |
Sony Ericsson Thump
Part Three. Thanks to Justice Karnik,
we now have the very first legal reference to music
plagiarism in the country. I really admire the speed with
which he delivered the judgment, using a combination of
three sane, logical arguments - an expert's opinion (who is
Shiv Mathur, but?), Roshans' indirect admission and the best
- his own untrained ear. That's the way to go, dear Sir -
Splendid job!
As for Thievery Corporation (The Roshans), it is mega dumb
to complain about the timing of the law suit. Roshan ji - it
really doesn't matter when the case was filed. If Ram had
timed it to put you in a spot, I say, that's a brilliant
strategy and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
He's the wronged party and you are the thief, for heavens'
sake! I'm happy that Ram did not file this earlier, else the
Roshans' combined clout in the industry would have threw Ram
and his singer wife, Sona out of the country/ industry. Now,
would the makers of
The Dream Team sue the shit out of the Roshans please?
Not to mention the 40 odd original artists mentioned
in this page - for all the crap they speak with zilch
conscience, they deserve to be sued to hell!
Its quite funny to see a grown up
man cry on the newspapers, right through his nose. Rakesh
Roshan's
passionate plea to his brethren is simply hilarious. He
may have actually had the intention of buying the rights of
a musical piece for the VETY FIRST TIME in his life and he
gets sued for that - this is what I call poetic justice. He
has literally paid for his past sins in one stroke...imagine
the number of scripts he has lifted (including The Dream
Team for Krazzy 4!!) or the number of tunes he got his
composer brother to lift. Besides the money he has lost and
a minor loss of so-called reputation, he has learnt one
valuable thing here...something we have all learnt when we
were kids - 'as you sow, so you reap'. Mahesh 'there's
nothing original in this world' Bhatt...you're next!
And, most importantly, please do not form your opinions
about Ram Sampat based on Roshan's mudslinging. Or even his
above-average work in Khakee or his incredible work in Ram
Madhvani's 'Lets Talk'. Ram Sampat, along with Siddharth
Achrekar were the brains behind Colourblind - one of India's
first ever rock bands, besides Indus Creed. Their only album
is, in my opinion, one of the best rock albums this country
has produced. This album is not available in stores any more
but Siddharth has made the album free for download,
here! Support Ram by listening to his stuff - he may be
ostracized from Bollywood shortly thanks to the Roshans'
combined might.
Part Four!
Here's another proof of the Roshan's
dishonorable intentions. Despite my constant hammering of
Sandeep Chowta, he at least has a precedence of crediting
his sources in the tape/ CD. Karan Johar and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
did that to Roy Orbison in Kal Ho Na Ho. So, what would a
composer and a producer do if they indeed have the legal
rights (perceived, in this case, if Sony Ericsson goofed)?
The idea is not just to pay off the source - it is to let
people know boldly that your work is a derivative and let
them compare notes with the original and appreciate the
finer nuances you've so painstakingly put in to
differentiate your work. So, did any one find a credit note
to the Sony Ericsson Thump track in the CD of Krazzy 4?
Nope! Can we then safely assume that the end objective of
the Roshans was to pass of someone else's tune as Rajesh
Roshan's own? That is precisely the problem here. Not, when
Ram Sampat filed the suit. Not, Rakesh Roshan was 'forced to
cough up 2 crores for want of time'. Those are COMPLETELY
besides the point and only push the Roshans further into
ignominy.
44
IPL Karmayudh ad lift!
Blogeswari
mailed me that she saw (on CNBC Story Board) ad film maker
Prasoon Pandey defend the plagiarism of the DLF IPL
Karmayudh ad campaign lifted off a 5 year old US TV promo!
The YouTube video that exposes this lift also quotes Prasoon
Pandey, possibly on mail. Prasoon says, "I am the one who
directed the IPL Karamayudh Commercial and my name is
Prasoon Pandey. The use of the splash in the baseball
commercial, I must confess is uncomfortably close to the one
in the IPL Ad. When we cut the actual footage together and
gave it to my animators to paint on top, they having painted
on top also put a splash on a shot and showed it to me. I
loved it and I am the one who asked them to go ahead with
it. But I hadn't even seen this baseball commercial till you
put it on You tube, and have just confirmed with my animator
E. Suresh of Famous Studios, neither had he. At the same
point of time, the splash can neither be anybody's property
nor is it the idea of the IPL commercial. IPL'S idea is in
the Veer Ras audio track. The splash is only a visual
punctuation in the larger imagery". What do you think?
Watch the
YouTube of DLF IPL Karmayudh tune over the US Baseball
promo.
45
Nike ad and Bebdo!
Is Ram Sampath a lifter too?
No, he's not! When one of ItwoFS readers, Debashish wrote to
me asking this question, he had solid proof. Ram's Nike ad
has a piece of music that sounds very similar to Goan singer
Lorna's 'Bebdo'. Debashish of course gave the benefit of
doubt to Ram and had asked me to find out if the music
rights were purchased legitimately for the reuse! And it
seems he did. Thanks to Priyanka Dasgupta of
Calcutta Times for getting this info! As for the Nike
ad's version, it is sung by Mumbai based Ella Castellino and
the lyrics were written afresh by Agnello Oswin Das, Senior
VP, J Walter Thompson. Thanks to Sonia Faleiro's March 1,
2007 post for this info - there's more in that too,
check her blog! Listen to Nike ad jingle |
Bebdo
