Subhash K Jha

Plagiarism has always been one of the side-effects of creativity. The Hindi film industry isn't new to it. Now there's another instance of two music composers fighting over the ownership of a tune.

Composer Aadesh Shrivastava has accused director Raj Kanwar, composer Anu Malik and lyricist Sameer of plagiarising his composition and using it, illegally, as the title song in the forthcoming Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif-Bipasha Basu starrer Humko Diwana Kar Gaye.

"I couldn't sleep the whole night when I heard the song," says an outraged Shrivastava. "My wife requested me to calm down because my blood pressure shot up. Raj Kanwar, Anu Malik and Sameer haven't only outraged me by lifting my tune. They've also lifted the late Anand Bakshi's lyrics. How could a lyricist like Sameer, who's so popular and successful do this to Bakshisaab?"

Srivastava claims that the title track for the film, which has been credited to Anu Malik, was actually composed by him for Vashu Bhagnani's Deewanapan.

"You can check the records. It's registered on May 30, 2002, with the Film Writers' Association," says Shrivastava.

"I had composed it for Vashuji's film, directed by Ashu Trikha. But Vashuji found the tune too dreamy and romantic. It's a ‘pahaadi' tune. Anand Bakshi Uncle wrote the lyrics for it, ‘Tume nahin aate to achcha tha/Aake nahin jaate to achcha tha.' And now Sameer is passing Bakshi Uncle's words as his own!"

The angry composer claims that he had played the tune for Raj Kanwar during one of their music sessions. Kanwar, however, has a different story to tell.

"The only time I've been associated with Shrivastava was when he did the background music for my film Baadal," he says. "How can he make all these accusations? Can't two creative minds think alike? If he thinks his song and the one in my film are similar, it's just a coincidence. There are so many love stories being made. Does it mean all of them are copied from one another? The same applies to love songs."

Shrivastava refuses to buy Kanwar's account. "They can say what they like," he says.

"It's a fact that they've blatantly lifted my song. And I intend to take legal action. I still remember how Anand Bakshi Uncle had congratulated me after hearing the tune, saying that songs based on the Raag Pahadi often turn out to be hits."