Mere Humsafar Song from Refugee Inspired from Old Song

Anu Malik won the National Award for Best Music for Refugee. Turns out that the song Mere Humsafar from the movie is inspired from his father Sardar Malik’s song Main Tumhari Ragini Tum Geet Ho from the movie Roop Sundari. Thanks to Pavan Jha for the info.

Here is the song Mere Humsafar from Refugee.

And here is the original Main Tumhari Ragini Tum Geet Ho from Roop Sundari

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31 Comments
  1. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    Baba,

    I remember that you had once mentioned that this song is inspired from some old song. So it seems that he recycled his father’s old song.

    • aryan 11 years ago

      Tabla sound and singing are same no doubt.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      Sputnik – refugee song is a copy but it is not inspired from this song.Now I dont remember the original song bcos i was little back then but my mom says that Anand Girdhars Budnaseeb (1986) had the same song with the same lyrics and tune.We stil have its VHS but it is in a very poor condition.

  2. Suprabh 11 years ago

    No Sputnik….I wont call it inspiration even if Anu Malik did actually have this as an inspiration…Here’s the deal…There are saat sur out of which every song is composed…and at some point of time…songs will sound similar in a way…

    I am sure you can find at least 10 more Indian songs which have such a melody (as in this song) somewhere in their duration–(mukhda or antara )…of course you would really have to dig deep for that.

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      The tune is very similar and Anu must have definitely had access to his father’s songs so it is definitely a case of inspiration.

      I think we give this saat sur excuse to pass off plagiarism. If these were two English songs by different composers then I am pretty sure the composer of the older song would have won the case.

  3. Suprabh 11 years ago

    sputnik,

    “I think we give this saat sur excuse to pass off plagiarism”

    I was the first one to point out the similarities between “touch me” by the Doors and Bhaag Bhaag DK bose from Delhi Belly…but I would still not call it plagiarism.

    As a student of music by hobby..I do see similarities between a lot of music pieces…which may not be inspiration or plagiarism subjects but may be treated that way by many..

    Check this out..and you may understand what I am trying to say

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Recently Fareed Zakaria was suspended by CNN for plagiarizing someone else’s article.

      This “Saat Sur” or “Same chords” excuse is the equivalent of saying that “its the same alphabets or words so there is bound to be some similarity”.

  4. Suprabh 11 years ago

    sputnik,

    You aren’t getting the point here..plagiarism is an attempt to reuse /copy or rework on someone else’s creation…however in music it is very well possible that two or more songs have similar sounding arrangement of chords..It is not same as “same alphabets or words” analogy.

    • hithere 11 years ago

      what are the chances that the score matches his Dad’s? If he had used someone else I would have agreed, It is not coincidence but deliberate use of song. Rahman’s Kahin aag lage sounds like Ace of Base;s all that she wants starting. That is a coincidence. Some are inspired where they like the tune and reuse it with modification. Some are copies where tune is same except different instrumentation.

      • Author
        sputnik 11 years ago

        This is Anu Malik from his interview.

        “Has he learnt classical music? “Not formally. But god guides me. I knew nothing about ragas but would compose. Experts would say, it is raag Yaman, Dhaiwat or Bhim Palasi but I would not know. But now I can recognise these ragas.” ‘

        https://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/03/25/stories/2003032500240400.htm

        He does not know classical music so its not that he used the raaga and made this composition.

        “I wont call it inspiration even if Anu Malik did actually have this as an inspiration”

        What logic is this? This is like saying “I wont call it stealing even if its stealing”.

        Yes he added up a lot of music to jazz it up but the basic tune remains the same. I used the word “inspired”. If it was a complete ripoff I would have used the word “copied”. At 18-19 seconds he also uses something from a Enigma/Deep Forest album for just a second which does not even go with the song.

        @hithere,
        More than the Taal song, Telephone Dhun from Hindustani has the same beats as All that she Wants by Ace of Base. I don’t think that it was a coincidence either. I remember Rahman himself saying he used Michael Jackson’s beats from Dangerous in a song from Thiruda Thiruda on Chitrahaar. Rahman also used the beats from Michael Jackson’s Jam for the song Mere Dil Ka Woh Shehzada from Kabhi Na Kabhi.

        • Ritz 11 years ago

          “He does not know classical music so its not that he used the raaga and made this composition.”

          recognizing raagas is not a rocket science as it is usually thought to be. Its basically simple tune recognizing (swaras graph) sans the taal/ mood of song etc. And one gets hang of it even if one does not know classical music.

  5. Suprabh 11 years ago

    hithere,

    My point is would you keep this song under plagiarism/inspiration or not…. I wouldn’t…that’s why in my first comment I said “.I wont call it inspiration even if Anu Malik did actually have this as an inspiration”

    I am not looking at it as Anu Malik trying to seek inspiration from his father’s song..Let me ask you this
    “what are the chances that you’d have thought it to be the same case had this not been a father-son scenario”..I am just talking about the two songs in question here..Yes they do sound similar for a 10-15 second period, but I will not call it plagiarism.Listen to both the songs fully and you will notice how mere humsafar has more to it than just that tune.

    • Ritz 11 years ago

      This is Raag shuddha kalyan and my most fav song based on this tune is :

      • Ritz 11 years ago

        @Sputnik.

        Anu / Himmesh / Bappi / Pritham are soft targets for such plagiarism claims.

        Please tell me ur opinion about theme of above song and the songs which u posted in the main post.

        Tunes are same – and they are based on a classical raag tune – if u disagree its ok. (Taal / theka/ might be different – swara graph is same).

        Thx

        • Author
          sputnik 11 years ago

          Yes this song has a similar tune too. So you are right about the raaga part but I still think Anu just reused his father’s composition.

          Inspiration is not a bad thing but a music composer who got inspired will not be afraid to admit his inspiration.

          The thing is Anu used to copy songs and get caught. With Border, Refugee and Virasat (except for the Payalein Chunmun which is from original) he kept proclaiming that he was giving original compositions but looks like he just started looking to more older obscure music for inspiration .

          Let me make this a objective question and pick one of the three choices below. Be practical and use whatever you know of Anu from his music and interviews.

          1) Anu actually composed this Refugee song by himself?
          2) Anu actually composed this Refugee song based on the raaga?
          3) Anu must have heard the song by his father and reworked it?

          Ok now another question for you. What raaga is the song “Ae Mere Humsafar” from Baazigar?

          • Ritz 11 years ago

            “Inspiration is not a bad thing but a music composer who got inspired will not be afraid to admit his inspiration.”

            Well its a composition which is there from last century. Many songs are based on it. Music composer may be knowing abt it directly or indirectly.

            For me, de-composing a classical tune is very simple (mastering a raaga is not so simple ) – and everyone gets used to that after a while….
            ….

            .its like how Vishal Bharadwaj thought of Shakespeare – in Omkara / Maqbool – unlike earlier filmmakers who thought the writer to be very high brow etc.

            I cant answer 1st question by you here. But 2nd and 3rd – I would say – it could be a overhang of what he heard in his childhood at home…in musical mehfils etc….i am saying just “could be”

  6. Ritz 11 years ago

    @Sputnik

    “Ok now another question for you. What raaga is the song “Ae Mere Humsafar” from Baazigar?”

    Sorry i havent noticed a song so far on the same tune…i mean based on classical.

    But I am not an expert on it.

    After all everything is based on 7 sur…isnt it?

    ) jokes aside, the tune of this song is good….could be based on a folk song…most of which are mix of 3-4 or more classical raag tunes? btw classical raag tunes is not the “ULTIMATE” final word!! …its just a tune ….same like folk tunes…..just that the classical forms improvise more on it further …

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Ok the main line of the song Ae Mere Humsafar from Baazigar sounds like the Khoobsurat Haseena part from Mr X In Bombay. Rest of the song is different. (Credit to Pavan Jha again)

      Khoobsurat Haseena – Mr X In Bombay

      Here is original for comparison.

  7. Suprabh 11 years ago

    Babaji,

    are you talking about this song

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      no sup,this is a different song.it had same lyrics.

      • Suprabh 11 years ago

        BabaJi,

        Same lyrics 😮

        That means Javed Akhtar is the culprit too ❓

        • Baba Ji 11 years ago

          probably anu malik showed them the original song and everyone thought ok its from a B grade unknown old film,no one would know 😀

  8. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    Sputnik,what does this song remind you of? 😀

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      Kaho Na Pyar Hai Song 😀

    • Suprabh 11 years ago

      BabaJi,

      The roshans taklus are awwal darje ke chor–be it rakesh or Rajesh.

  9. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    Off topic but here is a funny video of people’s reactions to the new IPhone 5.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      reminded me of aamir fans who just praise his films blindly.

      • Author
        sputnik 11 years ago

        Ha Ha LOL

        Perception matters. Initially everyone praised the poetry on that JTHJ poster (even I am guilty of that even though I thought there was something wrong) and when they found out it is not by Gulzar they started bashing it.

        I think there needs to be a social experiment. One day there should release a trailer of a KJo movie with Aamir Khan productions or Anurag Kashyap Production Limited in it and see the reactions.

        Similarly some music director’s song should be released as Rahman’s song or a Rahman song as by another music director and the reactions will be opposite.

        • Baba Ji 11 years ago

          yes i agree with you.perception matters.thats why kill bill action is called iconic by us but we will mock our OTT action.

  10. Farooq Majeed 11 years ago

    Music of this song is actually copy from song released in 1995/1996 . Sung by M.M Kareem . I have lost my that audio cassette. When I heard that song i actually tried to find that song but have not still find clue. I was 17 year old and now 34 year old (LOL). If some one find please tell me …….. i shall be thankful to you

    Regards

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