Music can be considered as the lifeline of the Indian Film Industry. This means that the music industry in India has its own set of demands from the music composers. This obviously must be leading to deadlines, being creative and developing something new and innovative which the audience would have not heard before. So what is the easiest way to compose such a tune within the shortest span of time? What trick could be implied which could be the sure shot formula to success?
Lifting Tunes and Lyrics! After all, who is going to buy the copyrights, it involves a lot of money and why not use it on something more expensive when the composition becomes a hit with the audience? And so, this is the Indian way or rather the Indian Mentality! But few realize the seriousness behind such an act. It is a crime…and so, it does not need to be reminded that breaking a law means the consequences are dire and not something that one would want to look forward to.
Such acts are commonly known as “Inspiration”. As if the world is a fool and more so, the original composers who have put their heart and soul in generating that one song only to see it being exploited by the less talented!
To understand the motive and the concept better, let’s look into this concept, commonly known as Music Plagiarism. As the name suggests, in layman’s language, it is sheer copying from other compositions which could be done in two formats. The first one is where the idea of the music is copied such as the melody or the pattern of the music. The second one is known as Sampling where in a part of the already recorded tune is used for another new creation.
But looking at the broader arena, we see entire songs that are copied to the core which include the lyrics as well. The important fact to be noted here is that it is being done by some of the prominent faces in the industry. The key fact to notice here is that if the producers of a film believe in a song so much, then what is wrong in buying the rights which would make them the rightful owner of that song? This way, they would not be committing any crime and more so, they are even free to fiddle with the track, giving them the ultimate freedom.
One such instance is where Karan Johar brought over the rights of the famous soundtrack of Pretty Woman to revamp and feature the song in his film, “Kal Ho Na Ho”. But then the Indian audience itself is unaware of the concept and tends to believe blindly in its Bollywood.
It is time for the audiences to open their eyes and see the world around them which extends beyond India. This is because there are people overseas who work equally hard and this would leave a bad taste for them about India. And we definitely do not want that!
