It was my third day at the convent school, and I remember having come home crying, because I had flunked a simple class test. My mom couldn’t understand why that happened, because I was nearly good at alphabets and figures, and had prepared so well for the test. It was then that I told her, how unflinchingly I had copied all the answers from my neighbor’s notebook! Since then, I have been of this belief that, in life, you achieve success by dint of brains and creativity, than borrowed ingenuity. 
 
So, I decided never to cheat or copy, and happily went on with my life joggling in the groove of my beliefs. Now imagine, the stunned plaintiveness with which I received the tidings that my favorite songs from the movie, Jab We Met are in fact, a direct lift from some foreign songs. When I heard the original track of the song Aao Milo Chale (called Di belakangku by Peter Pan), I was shocked, because every sinew of this Indonesian song sounded the same as its Indian version. Then the revelation, that almost all of Pritam’s songs are brazenly copied from bizarre sources, was like a blow to me. And to think that, I used to like this guy’s music! I had simply drooled on a ditty from the movie, Life in a Metro, “composed” by Pritam, whose opening guitar notes have in fact, been strung by the band called Queensrÿche in the album, Silent Lucidity. No big surprise, that the movie itself borrows some parts from the English blockbuster, The Apartment.

 

In another startling revelation, one of the websites claimed that R.D. Burman’s song Mehbooba Mehbooba (that by itself has umpteen remixed versions) is a rip-off of the song Say you love me by Demis Roussoss. The website (www.itwofs.com) also points out to the evergreen melody, Tumse Milkar, (my personal favourite ) of being on the same music wavelength as Leo Sayer’s When I Need You. Several such Hindi numbers (which I have been humming and munching on since my salad days) have been identified as brazen lifts from foreign sources.

 

Also, the much-lauded SLB movie, Black (the movie I used to watch with tears in my eyes) turned out to be a cut-copy-paste product of the English film, The Miracle Maker? I remember, during my reporter days, I had come across such "inspired" directors who bought movie CDs to the studio, and designed/directed every frame by watching the original film. When I had questioned them about it, they came up with an interesting repartee ...“Why, it’s not the same story..it is set in an Indian context!” Well, as long as Hollywood doesn't sit up and take notice, all is safe and well with the directors. But David Dhawan (who made Partner on the lines of a Hollywood movie, Hitch) was not so lucky. He was accused of plagiarism by the producers of the original movie. Now come on,  Dhawan’s Partner, cannot possibly be a dead ringer of Hitch, for the former is labourously  dovetailed with a potpourri of Indian tadkas, jhatkas, and matkas. 

Huh, now take a peek-a-boo at this site (www.bollycat.com) and you will know how many Hollywood movies have “inspired” our creative talents back home to produce some of the most unoriginal and banal movies of the times.

 

Well, plagiarism is not new to Bollywood, and has been thriving since its inception. Does that mean that we genuinely lack the creativity to belt out good music or produce original scripts? Why do we have to look elsewhere for the "inspiration", "creative muse", "influences", and what have you? Why not turn the searchlights inwards? Today Indian films/music albums reach out to audiences far and wide. It's no longer possible to bamboozle the audiences who are completely aware as to what is original and what is not (if the revelations and comments in the given websites, are anything to go by). It’s time that the Indian producers/musicians wake up to this fact and pull up their socks by bringing a whiff of originality than being pulled out of the competition! 

PS: No part of this piece is lifted from any source. And yes I still like to believe that originality is better than the so-called inspirations!