[Shuklas]

Inspirations in Indian Film Songs from English Music



Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing films in regional languages. Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world.

Bollywood is formally referred to as Hindi cinema. There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well. It is common to see films that feature dialogue with English words (also known as Hinglish), phrases, or even whole sentences.

Source : Wkipedia

Plagiarism in Hindi film music

Plagiarism in music is long prevailant and rampant in our Hindi film music. It has been that way since the initiation of Hindi film starting with SD Burman and reaching its glory with composers like RD Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar-Jaikishan, O.P Naiyar, Salil Choudhary, Kalyanji-Anandji, and Bappi Lahiri. Most of the music composed by these composers were either plagiarized tunes or inspired by some foreign tunes. Sometimes the copied songs are intelligently and subtly modified while in some cases it is a blatant complete tune and even beat to beat copy. The catch is, all these plagiarized music became hits and became rage among the masses. In those times, before the era of television, the Indian masses hardly had access to foreign music or even music in English. The popular culture was to listen to Hindi film music and hum along. But they hardly knew that most of the hummable tunes are copied.

How many people know that SD Burman copied Jeevan ke safar mein raahi for the film Munimji from the song The Mexican hat dance? The great songs in the film Chalti ka nam Gadi, 'Ek ladki bheegi bhagi si' is inspired by the song 'Sixteen Tons' , while 'Hum the woh thi' is inspired by the song 'The Watermelon song', both by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Even Yeh dil na hota from Jewel Thief was inspired by the song River Kwai March from the soundtrack of the David Lean classic, The Bridge on the River Kwai. And finally, Saala main tho sahaab ban gaya is lifted directly off a 1957 Italian track, 'Chella Llà', by the legendary Renato Carosone.

RD Burman composed great music for Hindi cinema but his immensely popular song Mehbooba, mehbooba from Sholay is a direct copy. How many of us know that the song is a direct lift from Demi Roussos' Say You Love Me? Same can be said about the opening tune and the lovely harmonica tune played by Amitav from Sholay which were plagiarized from Mackanna'a Gold. RD was an immensely gifted musician and he kept track of world music with a penchant. That is how he used the tunes from English songs and transformed them to gold in Hindi films. Infact, he is the pioneer in this field of plagiarism.Though he gave us wonderful music in all his films, but it still remains a fact that he lifted. Do not forget the immensely popular songs from Hum Kisise kam Nahi, which has several lifted tunes from the popular band Abba's music.

Laxmikant Pyarelal lifted tunes for the film Rajkumar. 'Payaal Meri' is a good version of George Michael's Faith! And 'Tere Naam Ke Hum Deewane' from Judaai is a beat to beat copy from Boney M's 'Brown Girl in the ring'. OP Naiyar copied 'Yeh hai bombay meri jaan' for the popular film CID from 'My darling Clementine' by Freddy Quinn. And believe it or not, the Geeta Dutt number 'Babuji dheere chalna' is a direct lift from the song 'Perhaps perhaps perhaps' covered by Doris Day.

Salil Choudhary was more intellectual in his plagiarism. He mostly lifted tunes from the symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach. His popular Hindi number 'Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyar Bada' is inspired from Mozart's 40th symphony and the famous 'Dil tadap tadap ke' song from Madhumati is inspired by the Polish folk song "Szla dzieweczka do gajeczka". All the songs by this composer has been improvised to a large extent to suit the exuberant mood of both the films and the tracks.

The RD mantle is justly worn by Bappi Lahiri who lifted tune after tune to create hit songs. Don't forget the immensely popular 'Tamma Tamma Loge' and 'Mera dil gaye ja' from Disco dancer. By that time several people knew that he copied generously from English tunes of Modern Talking. His 'Hari Om Hari' is a copy of 'One Way Ticket to Moon' and 'Sochna Kya' in Ghayal has been copied from 'Lambada'. Though he has the title of disco king, the first composer to introduce disco beats in hindi music, the fact remains that he is still a plagiarist and has maximum hit plagiarized songs to his credit.

The music scenario has not changed a bit after Nadeem Shravan, Ram Laxman, or Anu Malik came into the picture. All of them fell back, at various stages of their career, to outside music as their inspiration. The popular Stevie Wonder number 'I Just called to say I love you' was copied in the hit film 'Maine Pyar Kiya' by Ram Laxman and became a rage of the generation. Almost all songs of Qayamat se Qayamat tak has been copied tunes. So has Anu Malik's lifts from 'Macarena' and 'Les Ketchup' as well as the Arabic and Lebanese tunes in the film Murder. And the opening portion of his immensely popular song 'Sandeshe Aate hai' in the film Border is inspired from 'With A little help From my friends' by Beatles. One good thing about Anuji is that he listens to tunes in foreign languages and gets inspired. And we must acknowledge that the songs are real hits and hummed by the generation. Nadeem Shravan's speciality was mostly soft english numbers from 50's and 60's english pop. They are the ones who introduced many of the Cliff Richard numbers in Hindi films, of course in its version.

And now there is this whole lot of GenX composers like Pritam, Vishal Sekhar, Salim Suleiman who practices the same cult left as a legacy by their predecessors. Pritam especially tries to bring in a newness to plagiarism by copying the music of regional songs and music bands. He bought Bangladesh singer James to sing many of his own songs in hindi as well as some from songs of Bangla bands. As Pritam says, "I told myself: ‘Don’t touch an English song since people have heard it’. I thought it would be better to be inspired by obscure songs without realising that the Internet has made the world smaller and even the most obscure song can easily be traced".

Lastly, our very own oscar winning music maestro AR Rahman has composed the song immensely popular 'Shakalaka Baby' inspired by the rhythm loop with an underground feel found in the track 'Flight IC 408' by State of Bengal and the track 'Aint talkin bout dub' by Apollo 440. And most of his Tamil hits are inspired by music from Africa, Osibisa, and Lebo M to name a few.

Lifting tunes is a trend one can't do away in Bollywood. Getting inspiration to compose fresh for every project is tiresome and difficult. The musicians too get music blocks (like writer's block). These English/foreign tunes act as saviours for them in those crisis hours of deadpan phases.

Most Hindi song copies were temporary hits or remained obscure. However, 11 were still known among the general public in 1998, about 35 years later. The best remembered in the 1990s were: "Madhubala" ("Aajao tarapt hai arma~" from Awaara) one of three renditions of this song by Stellios Kazantzidis; "kardia mou kaimeni" (my poor heart - "dunia me ham aaye" from "Mother India"), "auti i nyxta menei" (this night remains - "ulfaT ka saaz chheRo" from the 1953 "Aurat"), "oso axizeis esy" (as much as you are worth - "duniawalon se duur" from "Ujaala"). (Source :http://www.sangeetmahal.com/journal_hindi_films_greece.asp)

S.D.Burmans Inspiration :

http://www.itwofs.co...

The original of SD Burman's 'Jeevan ke safar mein raahi' from Munimji - The Mexican Hat Dance. The version of Mexican Hat Dance I've uploaded is by Jose Ortega and his Mariachi Band. Incidentally, while the original has a real fast tempo, the hindi version is a tad bit slower. Also, I would only term it as an inspiration, not a blatant rip off as its quite difficult to see the similarity in the first listen, 'cos of the incredible tempo of the original. My dad tells me that SDB had also incorporated a slower version of the same song in the same album/ bgm of the movie!


Ye bhi koi roothne ka din hai [Film: Solva Saal (1958)-
From the song 'Ya Ghozayel', composed by Rahbani brothers and sung by Lebanese singer Fairuz.SDB, in all probabilities, derived inspiration from the original Rahbani Brothers number. The same song (Ya Ghozayel) was titled 'Arab Feast' when it was included as part of the Ron Goodwin compilation, 'Music for an Arabian Night', which was released in 1959


Chahe koi khush [Film: Taxi driver (1954)]-Inspired by the Italian folk tune, 'Tarantella'


Chalti ka naam gadi
Two popular lifts from Kishoreda's Chalti ka naam gadi (1958). These songs were apparently lifted by S D Burman on Kishore Kumar's insistence! 'Ek ladki bheegi bhagi si' is inspired by the song 'Sixteen Tons' (1955), while 'Hum the woh thi' is inspired by the song 'The Watermelon song' (1957), both by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Interestingly the lift in 'Ek ladki...' looks pretty minimal, I mean the kind of Hindi song that has come out of the original sounds drastically different and of course, much more enjoyable


Yeh Chanda Ruus Ka [Insaan Jaag Utha (1959)
Lifted off 'Barefoot Girl' from the compilation 'Music for an Arabian Night'. Originally titled 'Albint Al Shalabiyya', composed by Rahbani Brothers































Source :http://sammychanda.blogspot.com/2009/07/plagiarism-in-hindi-film-music.html



Interesting Web site to track plagiarism in the Hindi music industry

http://www.itwofs.com/

http://www.angelfire...


http://allthatmatter...


http://www.rediff.co...jun/11music.htm

[Shuklas]

Salil Chaudhry -Inspired Music :







LISTEN BOTH VERSIONS:

http://www.itwofs.co...



Dharti kahe pukar ke [Film: Do bhiga zameen (1953)]

Inspired by 'Meadowlands' composed by Lev Knipper.Lev Knipper initially wrote Meadowland as part of his 4th Symphony (Ballad of a Young Soldier), but since then, it has become a true folk-song. It talks of young soldiers going off to battle, saying goodbye to their wives, who are in tears, and sing about the long road that lies ahead of them.

Dil tadap tadap ke [Madhumati (1958)Inspired by the Polish folk song "Szla dzieweczka do gajeczka" (pronounced "shwah jeh-vehtch-ka duh lah-sech-kah")!

Itna Na Mujhse Tu [Film: Chaya] -From Mozart's 40th symphony.

Aankhon mein tum [Half Ticket (1962)]-Inspired by Dinah Shore's 1948 chart topper, 'Buttons and Bows'The song has been improvised to a large extent by Salilda to suit the exuberant mood of both the film and this particular track. Interesting instance, though .

Halkey halkey chalo [Film: Taangewaali] - Inspired from The Wedding Samba.Pretty much inspired. The version of Wedding samba here is by Edmundo Ros and his orchestra

[Arun Kumar]

Thanks Shukla ji for starting this new subforum and a very informative write up.Yes, even great composers of yesteryears were inspired by western music.Some of our songs were based on western music while some were lifted as such while some others were only inspired by it. C Ramchandra even admitted in one of his interviews that some of his songs were based on western songs/tunes. He said that in one of the western songs there was no scope for improvement and he copied it as such!

Here is one of his most popular songs from 1950 film 'Samadhi' and the song on which it was based.Please listen the full song; even the opening music seems to have been borrowed in 'Gore Gore':

'Gore Gore O Banke Chhore'


'Chico Chico Puerto Rico'


Arun Kumar

[Shuklas]

Arun Kumar Jee-

Thanks for above upload.

Long ago we have heard the English tune playing in Canada which was exactly same as the following song from Film-Ek Jhalak -Music Director Hemantkumar.If anyone has knowledge of the English tune...Please let us know.

Shuklas


Aaja zara mere dil ke sahare dilruba..hemant kumar-geeta dutt-ek jhalak








Movie : Ek Jhalak (1957)
Music Director : Hemant Kumar
Singer(s) :Geeta Dutt & Hemant Kumar
Lyricists : S.H.Bihari
Cast : Vyjantimala,Pradeep Kumar,Rajendra Kumar,Pran,Omprakash,Anita Guha,Mubarak,Lalita Pawar,
Director : Kalidas
producer :Deep Pradeep

[Arun Kumar]

Shukla ji,

'Aaja Zara' from Ek Jhalak is based on 'Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White'. There are many versions of this song and the tune. Here is one sung by Pat Boone.

Arun Kumar

 Cherry Pink and Blossom White-Pat Boone.mp3 (2.13MB)
Number of downloads: 115

[Shuklas]

Arunkumar Jee-

Thanks so much Thanks.

Shuklas

[Arun Kumar]

Geeta Dutt also sang 'Aaja Zara' for Ek Jhalak.

Here is
'Ai Dil Hai Mushkil Jeena Yahan
Ye hai Bombay Ye Hai Bombay Ye Hai Bombay Meri Jaan'

Singers Rafi & Geea Duttt
Film C I D (1956)
Music O P Nayyar

and the English song on which it was based

'O My Darling O My Darling O My Darling Clementine'

Arun Kumar

The C I D song;



O My Darling Clementine:

[Shuklas]

Goodnight Irene...Irene good night...



Nazaron mein ho tum khayalon mein ho tum singer- Manna Dey

[Arun Kumar]

A song by Rafi and Asha Bhosle. Even the poetry is somewhat similar:

'Maine Kaha Tha Aana Sunday Ko'

Film Ustadon Ke Ustad (1963)



and Doris Day sings:

'Never on a Sunday'



Arun Kumar

[Shuklas]

Arunkumar Jee-

Check this out................



Bhanumati- Doris Day - Similar Tune-English song in Thodu Needa-&The Man Who Knew Too Much

[Arun Kumar]

Thanks Shukla ji for the copy of Doris Day's 'Que Sera Sera'

Kishore Kumar sings 'Dil Dil Se Mila Ke Dekho' also sung by Ashs Bhosle and the English 'Isle of Capri'

Kishore Kumar


'Isle of Capri'

Arun Kumar

[Shuklas]

LISTEN THESE UPLOADS



http://sursangat.com...=300

[Shuklas]

Arun Kumar Jee-

We await more up[loads.............Whenever possible.

Shuklas

[Arun Kumar]

Mohd. Rafi sings for 'Dil Deke Dekho' (1959)

'Kaun Ye Aya Mahfil Me .....
O Dilruba Meri Neeta'

Music Usha Khanna

The song is based Paul Ranka's 'O Please Stay by Me Diana'

Rafi:
 Kaun Ye Aya Mahfil Me.mp3 (3MB)
Number of downloads: 84

Paul Ranka
 Diana-Paul Ranka (2).mp3 (2MB)
Number of downloads: 82

[Arun Kumar]

The song
'Yahan Hum Wahan Tum
Kahin Ho Na Jayen Gum'

Singers Geeta Dutt & Mohd Rafi
Music O P Nayyar
Film Shrimati 420 (1956)

was inspired by Petula Clarke's 'In the Shoemaker's Shop'

Arun Kumar

Yahan Hum Wahan Tum
 Yahan Hum Wahan Tum.mp3 (2.96MB)
Number of downloads: 47

In the Shoemaker's Shop
 In The Shoemakers Shop-Petula Ckarke.mp3 (2.1MB)
Number of downloads: 46

[Arun Kumar]

C Ramchandra in one of his interviews admitted that he could not make any change in the song 'Aa Ja Re Aaja More Piya' and practcally copied it from the English song. Please listen to both:

'AaJa Re Aa Ja More Piya'
Singer Asha Bhosle
Film Sarhad (1960)

 Aaja Re Aaja More Piya.mp3 (4.32MB)
Number of downloads: 31

English song:

'Vola Re'
Singer Dean Martin

 Vola Re-Dean Martin.mp3 (2.75MB)
Number of downloads: 46

Arun Kumar