ASAD - 23

Originally posted on rec.music.indian.misc in 1995

RMIM is a music group. But it has shown patience and tolerence towards this series, which has nothing to offer except Poetry. Thanks a lot! So for once let me try to relate this series to Hindi Film Music.

Sahir, Shakil, Majrooh, Gulzar, Kaifi Azmi are not just lyricists, they are Shayars in their own right. Often they take inspiration from famous GHazals and use it for film songs. The best example is Gulzar's song

dil dhundata hai, phir wohi, fursat ke raat-din
baithe rahe, tasavvur-e-jaanaaN kiye hue

This starting of the song is a GHalib's Sher. No plagiarism. Gulzar gives the credit to GHalib.

Sahir used many of his Nazms in movies. "Kabhi Kabhi" is a well known example. A not-so-well-known example is "jinhe naaz hai, Hind par wo kahaN haiN" from "Pyasa". Everything is same, but in the original Nazm called "Chakale" Sahir had writeen "sanaa- KHwaan-e-taqdis-e-mashriq kahaaN haiN" in place of the words mentioned. Naturally, he wanted to use simple language in the movie. :-)

There was an early Amitabh-Jaya movie, in which Jaya was a "tavayaf". The movie name eludes me, and so too the p-stats of this nice song

patta patta, buta buta, haal hamara jaane hai

This line is taken exactly from the famous GHazal by the great Mir

patta patta, buta buta, haal hamara jaane hai
jaane na jaane, gul hi na jaane, baag to sara jaane hai

I don't have the data to say whether this is plagiarism or not.

Other examples are not so nice. They are not only plaigiarisms, but they distort the original Sher. The worst example is the copy of a fantastic Sher by Momin (a contemporary of GHalib)

tum mere paas hote ho goyaa [=jaise]
jab koi dusaraa nahiN hota

This extraordinary Sher is a typical Momin gem ! Full of "nazaakat" !

Can you guess the song in which this Sher was lifted? It's taken as a second line in this song from "Love in Tokyo".

O meri shahe-KHuba ...
tum mere paas hote ho, koi dusaraa nahiN hota

It's horrible. The lyricist [Hasrat Jaipuri ?] not only blatantly lifted the Sher, but also removed the words "goyaa" and "jab", thereby distorting the original beauty. I can say @#$%^&*!~ to the lyricist.

Another nasty example is also from a SJ-Rafi song. Consider this as a RJGK clue, and guess the song. [Because I have forgotten it :-)]

teerachhi nazar se na maaro, aashiqe-dilgir ko
kaise teerandaaz ho, seedha to kar lo teer ko
- KHwaaja Vazir

It's taken as it is in the song. Pure shamelessness !

I remember seeing a song on TV almost 10 years back, which had Dharmendra and Zeenat. It was a parody. And the second line of the following Sher was lifted in it and sung to the tune of "khilauna jaankar tum to mera dil tod jaate ho".

janaaza rok kar mera wo kuchh is andaaz se bole
"gali humane kahi thi, tum to duniya chhod jaate ho"
- Safi Lakhnawi

It will take a real guru to find out the movie song. I myself have forgotten.

Those who like Marathi songs, must have heard the famous Lata solo, a very very fanous poem by the famous poet BhaRa Tambe

jan paL_bhar mhanatil haa'y haa'y
mi jata rahil karya kaa'y

Well friends, you are in for a shock. Tambeji indulged in Plagiarsim! It's a striaght lift from none other than GHalib's philosophical Sher

GHalibe-KHasta ke baghair, konase kaam band haiN ?
roi'ye zaar zaar kya, kiji'ye haaye haaye kyuN

Gives a bitter taste ! I hate it.

There can be many more examples. Others can add. But IMO, Lyrics Plagiarism is much much worse than Music Plagiarism. It's very difficult to detect and once detected it's always outright disgusting. As it usually distorts the original beauty, and insults the original Shayar. This, but, is never a topic of discussion on RMIM.

- Abhay.
ASAD _also_ stands for "A Sher A Day" !