Why Are Bollywood Stars And Filmmakers Being Sued by Americans?

We know that Indian filmmakers have long been ‘inspired’ by the West – movie plots, songs and entire scenes are lifted and recreated for Hindi films without so much as an acknowledgment. Earlier, it this probably didn’t matter so much to western filmmakers and musician because they often did not get to know about Indian plagiarism. Now with the world becoming so connected, copies are easy to spot. Where earlier, Indian copies did not impact the business of content creators in the west, now the convergence of audiences means real losses. So there are very real reasons why Indian stars and filmmakers are being sued and elsewhere.

Bollywood stars sued by Vibrant Media Group

Certain live concerts scheduled to be held in Chicago in 2013 were canceled owing to Salman Khan’s legal matters making it impossible for him to perform. Stars such as Khan, Katrina Kaif and Sonakshi Sinha did not perform and also failed to return their deposits. Further they went on to perform for other promoters, claims the media house that has filed suits amounting to $1 million.

Plagiarism is rife

This is hardly the only reason people from the Indian film industry have been sued by foreign entities. For decades now, Bollywood has copied stories and plots of movies. It copies the tunes of songs – folk songs, pop music, oldies, anything. Movie scenes are reproduced almost frame for frame. Numerous Bollywood posters are rip-offs of Hollywood posters. The above image shows just a few.

Ra.One drew from various action flicks such as Terminator, Iron Man, Batman and even an ad as this video shows . Even a highly acclaimed film like Barfi! was thought to heavily copied from films such as The Adventurer, Cops, City Lights, Project A, The Notebook and others. The makers of My Cousin Vinnie even sued the Indian makers of Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai for plagiarism. Now with Youtubers making it their business to expose Bollywood’s penchant for plagiarism, we are becoming more familiar with the impunity with which Bollywood indulges in flagrant lifting.

Copies from here, there, everywhere

As for the songs, they are copied from everywhere, regardless when, where and in what language they are made. Here, language is literally no bar. Composers such as Anu Malik and Himesh Reshamiya and many others are notorious for their derivative compositions and the way they lift tunes. Even the legendary RD was known to be ‘inspired’ by compositions of others.

Why is plagiarism seen as OK in Bollywood?

Maybe it’s our educational system that teaches us to learn by rote that is to blame. No Indian student is rewarded for thinking outside the box and giving an innovative answer in their exam paper. Reproducing material exactly from the text book receives high marks; ergo approval. Where is the scope for creativity? Perhaps this creates a slavish mindset that sees little merit in original creation and much to applaud in a faithful reproduction.

There are clues in the structure of classical Indian music as well

Before condemning the way that Indian composers use others’ compositions, let’s get some perspective. Look at how Indian classical music is structured. Each classical raag is set of rules about specific notes and note structures. So for instance, Raag Bhoopali consists of sa re ga pa dha – five shuddha (no komal or teevr swars) notes, while Raag Lalit uses komal re, and both ma notes (suddha and teevr). Within that framework, a singer is free to improvise and innovate. Many of the same traditional bandishes (short songs usually 3 to 6 lines) will be used by various different artists without any limitations on that use.

So in this sense the concept of ‘originality’ in Indian music is different from the western understanding of this. Listen to this song from the old movie Taj Mahal: based on Raag Lalit, no one could ever call it a copy of any other song and yet, this song is similar to dozens of compositions in Raag Lalit!

Copies? You decide

Consider this: when R D makes a song like Mehbooba Mehbooba or Churaliya hai these are not simply copies; they are more in the way of reinterpretations. R D was too fine a musician for slavish copies. R D did actually add a great deal of this own musical sense into the mix and the result is a song that is entirely own; even if it draws upon the work of someone else. The final outcome tended to be not so much a copy as a re-imagination. In the final analysis, the vast body of superior songs that R D created entirely from his own formidable musical talent outweighs those reimaginings. So the next time you dismiss a Bollywood song as a ‘mere copy’ perhaps it’s a good idea to keep some context in mind!

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