Copycat!

Will Bollywood ever learn that there is such a thing as plagiarism and such a thing as copyright laws' Unfortunately, looks like the world's biggest film industry will never understand both the terms. Take, for instance, the case of musician Ram Sampat. His Rs 20 million out of court settlement with filmmaker Rakesh Roshan for alleged plagiarism has again got the industry buzzing about how ignorant industrywallahs are about copyright laws. Will they do anything about it' From past experience, much talking will be done and little action will be taken.

And talk they did. Veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai said that several times, films had 'inspired re-worked version of a song or film as our own original work of art without realizing the complications of copyright laws' and that this had warned the industry that this had to change in the future.

Music composer A.R. Rahman, whose tunes have been copied endlessly, rightly felt that everyone had to clean up their act and give more opportunities to creative people. Director Mahesh Bhatt also felt that the Indian film industry should mend its ways. Gutsy singer Alisha Chinai supported the decision whole-heartedly since plagiarism is a way of life in Bollywood and people ought to start playing by the rules.