Outrageous and brazen, too…..

The one aspect of Bollywood that one feature that sets it’s products apart from cinema from anywhere else in the world, is undoubtedly, the musical scores that it has always had ever since movies got a voice and stopped being silent. Unlike Hollywood which includes songs made by different artistes including famous singers and bands that have been hits or part of standalone hit singles/albums and then includes them in the movie, with the song playing in the background at a moment in the storyline when it sounds appropriate, Bollywood has utilised custom made songs that for the most part are mouthed by the on-screen characters. Sometimes they do play in the background, and even more rarely there may be a classical bandish by a famous artiste.

Bollywood’s recurring failing is seeking creative inspiration for their movie songs from other sources. A Salil Chowdhuri may publicly accept he used Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No 40  symphony in G Minor, to make a romantic anthem for the ages, Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badha, in Chhaya. Composed by Salil Chowdhury with a very Indianised version of the symphony,  sung brilliantly by Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar, it has been one of the most favourite songs of its type for 60 years.

This degree of honesty/transparency doesn’t necessarily come through every single time.

Most composers who have done this don’t even admit to this act, even if they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Let’s look at one such blatant act, which to me can never be “acceptable”

Let’s look at this one famous song.

Karz the movie made by Subhash Ghai was itself a ripoff of a Hollywood movie, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. When caught red handed he brazenly claimed he derived inspiration from Madhumati, Kudrat and Mehbooba. But the murder and revenge were straight out of the Hollywood original.

The movie had Rishi Kapoor as the wronged man’s reincarnated avatar, Simi Grewal as the unfaithful wife, Raj Kiran, the hero in Arth, was the murdered hubbie and Tina Munim was Rishi‘s love interest and later his life. Laxmikant Pyarelal picked up yet another Filmfare for the score, mainly due to two songs which also were individually nominated for the Filmfare: Kishore Kumar for Om Shanti Om , and Mohammad Rafi for Dard e Dil. Anand Bakshi the most famous “made to order” lyricist in Bollywood, picked up nominations for the same two songs. https://youtu.be/CYCoNpxWWzk

Kishore Kumar was full of zest as he belted the song, which was a big hit when the movie released, received plenty of playtime on the airwaves, and resonated in the young kids of the time.

Little wonder that Laxmikant Pyarelal picked up the Filmfare for the score. They were pretty much used to doing this regularly, so no one seemed surprised. This was decades before the internet ( & a generation before the likes of Annu Malik and Pritam went fishing for tunes from Cyprus to Korea and Japan – and everything in between) so no one suspected a thing. Much awarded composer duo’s music factory, much awarded lyricist, and a great singer.

But there was a very big fly in the ointment. More like a very very big rotten carcass. Listen to this: https://youtu.be/ThBmAKqONCg

The comments in the Lord Shorty song are quite explicit. Everything about the song reads T H E F T.

Even the refrain is lifted syllable for syllable, letter for letter, note for note. Really amazing how Anand Bakshi And/Or Laxmikant Pyarelal could look people in the eye, just walk up, claim ownership and even pick up the award.

Can’t blame if Lord Shorty felt a little shortchanged by the very successful LP. To the best of my knowledge, neither the music composers, nor the lyricist nor (of course he wouldn’t, given that the movie itself was a ripoff) the producer have even acknowledged to the act, despite the clear evidence of a successful plagiarism.

C’est la vie… .

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