"You are a Thief"

What a meaningless title for a blog post, U might think. But this is the thought that has been running across my mind since time immemorial. The only think which differentiates one man from another is his originality. But we seem to be living in an age where people want to be reflections and shadows and duplicates of some X,Y and Z. Being inspired is good. But stealing one's work is the ultimate crime one can commit.
First, let's start with music. It's the most precious gift that man has. Without music, the world ll lose its beauty and harmony. Right from Mozart, to the Beatles and today's Corrs and others, all have provided the world with the most lovely music. Music is the language in which we all communicate. When such music is plagiarised, it is so disheartening.
Particularly, in the Indian Music industry, which is proud of giving legendary musicians like the Burmans, Ilaiyaraja and Rahman to the world, plagiarism is a very common aspect. Even more so in the Tamil music industry. Starting from "Isai Thendral" Deva, to today's Harris jeyaraj, plagiarism seems uncontrollable. And these fellows getting accolades for their "original" work is even more dejecting. There is a certain website which lists out the numerous instances where these great music directors shop-lifted music.
If the world must look up to the Indian Music industry, this downtrodden practice must be prevented. Just imagine. Just for the one instance i came to know, in which the Black eyed peas copied their "Elephunk theme" from the Tamil movie "Raghavendra", I insulted the BEP amongst all my friends. If the westerners hear our plagiarised music, imagine the big insult to India in general. Already they refer to the subcontinent and other countries as "third world" countries. We are just reiterating that to them.
Learn how the westerners do it. These are the good things we should learn from them. There are three motion pictures which i know of, which portray Indian music during the runtime. "Lord of War", where the "Bombay" theme music is played, "Accidental Husband", where the Thenali song,"Swasame"and Alaipayuthe's "Yaro Yarodi" are played, and the "Inside Man", where "Chaiyya Chaiyya" is played. In all the three movies, Rahman is honoured in the end credits. They have bought the music rights legally and used it. This is professionalism. This is Gentlemanly behaviour.
We are the proud owners of the Oscar award for music. Let's not degrade the nation with ugly practices like these. It shows India in poor light. I now hope that you have understood the reason for the title of this post :)