Pritam Chakraborty
Who is Pritam?
Pritam needs no introduction to the average Indian Bollywood cinema buff. The Indian music director and composer from Calcutta active from 2001 to now. He's won multiple awards for his compositions consistently and is hailed as one of India's best music directors. Many of his songs, from "Dhoom Machale" and "Ya Ali" to "Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai" and "Balam Pichkari" are some of the biggest hits of Indian cinema that any of the one billion Indians has probably hummed to. Bollywood typically revolves around songs in movies as opposed to albums, and some of the biggest movie soundtracks he has been associated with include Gangster, Life in a Metro, the Dhoom series, Cocktail and Barfi.
The Controversy
However, the star-studded music director has been the king of controversy, with plagiarism allegations for almost every single one of his hits. Personally, I always thought plagiarism allegations were huge conspiracy theories that blew musical inspiration out of proportion. Then I did the research for myself. I think it quite impossible that all his songs have much lesser known foreign song counterparts which sound almost exactly the same. I was quite appalled that the biggest hits of Indian cinema like "Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai" and "Dhoom" were not original. The equivalent in English music would be "Thriller" or "American Pie". These songs were definitive hits of this generation.
At this stage, I'm inclined to believe that about anything that Pritam creates probably has a obscure Turkish/Egyptian/Indonesi
an/Chinese/Bengali "inspiration" that is waiting to be discovered. I'm quite disillusioned and frankly disappointed at the amount one can plagiarize and escape legally unscathed.
The Evidence
Below I list some of my personal favorite songs and the biggest hits Pritam has been accused of unabashedly ripping off [in no particular order]:
1.
The Copy - "Aashiyan" - Barfi
The Original - "Salud, Amor Y Dinero" - Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass
Comments - The trailer for this movie was rumored to be copied from Amelie as well.
2.
The Copy - "Lamha Lamha" - Gangster
The Original - "Kal Shab Dekah Mein Nay Jarokay" - Waris Baig
3.
The Copy - "Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai" - Gangster
The Original - "Sacral Nirvana" - Oliver Shanti & Friends
Comments - There's a lot of Gangster on this list.
4.
The Copy - "Ya Ali" - Gangster
The Original - "Ya Ghali" - Guitara
Comments - Could've at least changed the title.
5.
The Copy - "Dhoom Machale" - Dhoom
The Original Chorus - "Enta Ma Oltesh Leih" - Amr Diab
The Original Opening Riff - "Mario Takes a Walk" - Jesse Cook
Comments - The bigger the hit, the more songs it is "inspired" by.
6.
The Copy - "Haan Tu Hai" - Jannat
The Original - "Ana Ayesh" - Amr Diab
7.
The Copy - "Bheegi Bheegi" - Gangster
The Original - "Prithibi" - Mohiner Ghoranguli
Comments - Mohiner Ghoranguli is one of the seminal Rock bands in India, and a very popular Bengali rock band, and "Prithibi" is their most popular song. Being from Calcutta, this copy, even I spotted.
8.
The Copy - "Jaane Kya Chahe Mann" - Pyaar Ke Side Effects
The Original - "Mahi" - Hadiqa Kiyani
9.
The Copy - "Jaane Kaise" - Raqeeb
The Original - "Allem Alby" - Amr Diab
10.
The Copy - "Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai" - Woh Lamhe
The Original - "Tak Bisakah" - Peterpan
Comments - Peterpan is an Indonesian bands. Props for finding such obscure stuff.
11.
The Copy - "Zara Zara Touch Me" - Race
The Original - "Zhu Lin Shen Chu" - Leehom Wang
12.
The Copy - "Pehli Nazar Mein" - Race
The Original - "Sarang Hae Yo" - Kim Hyung Sup
Comments - Korean artist! K-pop, yeah!
13.
The Copy - "Badtameez Dil" - Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
The Original - "Ranjana Ami Aar Asbo Na" - Anjan Dutt
Comments - This is also a famous Bengali song by a famous Bengali music director.
14.
The Copy - "Hare Krishna Hare Ram" - Bhool Bhulaiya
The Original - "My Lecon" - JTL
Comments - This song was a huge anthem. This jingle made everyone bob their head. Copied.
15.
The Copy - "Yeh Ishq Hai" - Jab We Met
The Original - "Etra Una Femme" - Anggun
16.
The Copy - "Halka Halka" - Chocolate
The Original - "Breeze from Saintes Maries" - Jesse Cook
Comments - Jesse Cook, again!
17.
The Copy - "Bheega Bheega Sa" - Chocolate
The Original - "December" - Abrar Ul Haq
Comments - WHAT! This is a direct lift! He didn't even bother changing the lyrics.
18.
The Copy - "Zehreeli Raatein" - Chocolate
The Original - "Aadat" - Atif Aslam
Comments - Hahahahhahaha! A hilarious case of when the original is more famous amongst the same audience than the copy.
19.
The Copy - "Shikdum" - Dhoom
The Original - "Sikidum" - Tarkan
Comments - Come on dude, at least change the name of the song.
20.
The Copy - "Ada" - Garam Masala
The Original - "Ana" - Amr Diab
Comments - Amr Diab, again. Similar title. This is getting boring.
21.
The Copy - "In Dino" - Life in a Metro
The Original - "Mere Naam Hai Mohabbat" - Waqar Ali
Comments - In Dino was one of his best songs, and there's no question - it's lifted straight up from this song by Waqar Ali.
22.
The Copy - "Baatein Kuch Ankahee Si" - Life in a Metro
The Original - "Ah Reum Dah Oon Sa Ram" - Seo Yu Seok
Comments - Possibly my favorite song of Pritam's. It hurts that this is also stolen.
This list is not exhaustive.
To see more instances of Plagiarism in Bollywood music, feel free to read my answer for What are the worst cases of plagiarism in Bollywood music?
Edit: Added some more copies, per request. There are about 20-25 more known copies, but of less popular songs. I'll keep add them later, maybe. Feel free to suggest edits.
Edit 2: To read more about the instances of plagiarism in Bollywood, visit the page below. It's slightly sketchy and nondescript, but very informative:
chronicles of plagiarism in indian film music
Edit 3: While I now understand that Pritam actually purchased the copyrights on several of these songs. While for that subset of songs (I'm not sure exactly which ones), it makes his actions legal. However, in my eyes, legal is not equivalent to acceptable, especially in this case.
Edit 4: Added link to related, extended answer - What are the worst cases of plagiarism in Bollywood music?
Read other answers by
Debarghya Das on Quora:
What songs or bits of music give you goosebumps?
What Hindi song(s) gives you goosebumps or makes you cry?
Read more answers on Quora.