Originally Posted by
crimson king
venkirram: I have watched both videos before and I am not sure how exactly they address plagiarism. I think there is a difference between inspiration like Inji Idu-Yeh Dil Deewana and a blatant copy like Akkarai Cheemai from Kites. There are many reasons for plagiarism happening even in the case of a talented MD. It may simply happen unintentionally, the music director retrieving a tune from his memory bank without realising it is actually an old song that he had heard at some point of time. After all, all compositions originate from permutations of the same set of notes. Multiply that over hundreds of thousands of compositions; is it even realistically possible for a composer to remember all compositions in the history of mankind to avoid unintentional plagiarism?
Or he may like the ideas used in the song so much that he may be tempted to use it and hope to get away with it.
Lastly, and this happens often in India, the director may impose his insecurities on the music director. Why do Indians go and watch films copied from Hollywood when said Hollywood films are released here, at least the big cities anyway? The director begins by copying a Hollywood film because that is a surer formula for success from his point of view than taking a 'risk' with an original script. Likewise, he believes a song has a greater chance of being a hit if it is lifted from a hit tune from abroad or old films and he will impose that decision on the music director. I remember in the NEPV audio launch, Selvamani asked for a tune like Mehbooba Mehbooba from Ilayaraja (he was probably not aware that Mehbooba is also a copy :P) and Ilayaraja instead gave him Aatama Therotama, using the idea of a song with a tribal flavour. Maybe another music director wouldn't have bothered and simply ripped off Mehbooba.