MUMBAI: Copyright infringement and regular claims of lifting content, songs and ideas seem to have become a part and parcel of Bollywood these days. 8 days before its release, Salman Khan’s ‘Dabangg 2’ too is tangled in a copyright allegation of its catchy number ‘Pandeyji Seeti’.
Priyanka, the grand daughter of late lyricist Shailendra Singh says that the song ‘Pandeyji Seeti’ featuring Salman Khan has its tuned picked up from her grand father’s ‘Chalat musafir moh liya re pinjare wali muniya’ in Raj Kapoor starrer ‘Teesri Kasam’ produced by Shailendra Singh himself.
“Nobody informed me that they are going to copy the tune of our song for ‘Dabangg 2’. I stay abroad and when I came to Mumbai and heard the song, I sent a legal notice to Arbaaz Khan Productions, music directors Sajid-Wajid, actors Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha. No reply came to my legal notice, and when the period lapsed, they asked me for a compromise,” confirmed Priyanka
Priyanka insists that the credit should go to ‘Teesri Kasam’ and music directors Sajid-Wajid should not claim the tune to be theirs.
Sajid-Wajid disagree with a simple, “How can there by a copyright on folk tunes?” In Bollywood, veteran music director Anu Malik allegedly has up to sixty-eight claims against his songs. Similarly ‘Barfi!’ composer Pritam Chakraborty too has many allegations at an apparent fifty-two songs. Of course, these are only speculations.
Now, Priyanka plans to move the Bombay High Court on this matter.
