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Interview with Bappi Lahiri in Calcutta Times

What’s not surprising is that the Jimmy Jimmy song from the Mithun starrer Disco Dancer is featured in Adam Sandler’s latest film, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan after purchasing the rights from Sa Re Ga Ma. But what is surprising is that Jimmy Jimmy itself is identical to Ottawan’s T’es OK — and Bappi Lahiri plans to sue Ottawan!

PRIYANKA DASGUPTA Times News Network

Bappi Lahiri is on cloud nine. The reason is that his Jimmy Jimmy has been featured in the Adam Sandler film, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan. But in Bangalore, Karthik S, who hosts a site chronicling plagiarism in Indian film music, said it’s ‘terribly unfair and totally undeserved’ acknowledgment given to Lahiri in the end credits of the film since Jimmy Jimmy is a shameless, uncredited lift of Ottawan’s T’es OK.

When CT got in touch with the You Don’t Mess With The Zohan director, Dennis Dugan, and asked him why he wanted to credit a Bollywood number for his film, he said, “We had already made a film out of so extensive and controversial a topic. But it was just Adam Sandler’s tactics that we managed to settle it down in a pretty light way. In fact, it was his idea only which came to its ultimate projection. You Don’t Mess With The Zohan is about Zohan Dvir (played by Adam Sandler), who is an Israeli Mossad agent who dreams of becoming a hairstylist. On a mission to recapture the Phantom, a known terrorist, he takes advantage of the showdown to fake his own death. Armed with his scissors and his coveted book of hip hairstyles, he heads for America. Shunned by the uptight salons of New York, he makes a name for himself in a lesser known barber shop.”

Dugan further added, “The film basically deals with enmity between Israel and Palestine, but this topic is dealt with in a humourous way.” A movie about an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian terrorist coming together? “It’s not as crazy as it sounds. The people living in conflict in the Middle East are the same people living in one neighbourhood in New York, except that while there may be rivalries in Gaza, they don’t hate each other in Brooklyn. Everybody just gets along. They treat each other more as people than as rival factions. You Don’t Mess With The Zohan is a comic way of sort of getting at the West Side Story aspect of life. So I think the subject itself was controversial and that is why I doubted that some Middle East countries wouldn’t be showing it. But I am happy that the film has been understood well and is not offensive. So this is particularly one reason we mentioned the credits of the song, Jimmy Jimmy. That’s perhaps, to stay out of any controversy.”

On being told about the controversy and why he felt any need for giving royalty and credit to Bappi Lahiri, Dugan said, “Let me clear that my perception for this song to be featured in Zohan was made when I came across Jimmy Jimmy and not T’es OK. So it was something like Jimmy Jimmy that I had wanted in Zohan. Therefore, for me, it was necessary to accredit the makers of this song and deal with people acquiring rights of this song only. I don’t know who lifted which song, neither do I want to get into the core of this. I tried to accomplish my duty. Had I thought of Ottawan’s song first, I would surely have credited it in Zohan.” Perfectly valid argument since Dugan is not supposed to be stepping into Sherlock Holmes’ shoes before crediting a Hindi film song or even doubting the veracity of a Bollywood composer of ever being able to score an original tune.

Meanwhile, Lahiri claimed that Ottawan was the one to copy from him and not the other way round. When CT asked Atul Churamani, vice-president, Sa Re Ga Ma, about the year of the audio release of Jimmy Jimmy, he said, “That was in 1982.” On being told about the controversy, he said, “Although I have grown up on the Ottawan track, I don’t find any similarity between that and Jimmy Jimmy.”

Lahiri, meanwhile, is planning to sue Ottawan! “Bappi can even claim that he conceived the tune for Jimmy… while taking a bath one fine 1976 afternoon. He has no doubt composed some good tracks like Chalte chalte. But he is a hopeless liar when it comes to crediting his inspirations. The man has to repent,” Karthik said.

Seems like a lot of noise could be made now. But the most likely fallout of this issue is that with most Bollywood songs being rip-offs, that day won’t be far when Hollywood composers will run a sound check before paying for the publishing rights and crediting a composer. With big money up for stake, the original composers of Bollywood rip-offs can’t be expected to not know, protest and ask for their share if Hollywood starts using and crediting Hindi film counterfeit hits.
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Interview with Bappi Lahiri – “Ottawan copied from me”

Even though Ottawan’s T’es OK released in 1980 and Jimmy Jimmy two years later! Kasam paida karnewale ki, t’es not all OK with Bappida’s memory

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

So, you must be delighted on being given the credit for Hollywood’s use of Jimmy Jimmy?
• I am a very proud Indian. This is the first time a Bollywood song has been used in a Hollywood film. It’s celebration time for me. By the grace of God, my efforts are being recognised. Earlier, the song Kaliyon Ka Chaman was used in the album, Addictive. London-based Sri Lankan band M.A. I had earlier sought permission to remix Jimmy Jimmy and use it for their album. Jimmy Jimmy is a lucky song for me. All my songs are like my babies. Jimmy Jimmy, I’d say, is a baby with extraordinary talent. If you go to Russia, people still sing this number. This song is popular even in China. Now, which Bollywood composer can dream of doing that? Soon, you will also get the news of the Sharaabi number — Mujhe Naulakha Manga De Re — being remixed in the UK.

But there have been allegations of you shamelessly stealing Jimmy Jimmy from Ottawan’s T’es OK…
• (He hums both numbers and tries to point out minor differences). Mine was recorded in 1979.

But your song was released in 1982, while the Ottawan number was released in 1980…
• Some portions can be inspired but these days, composers are only going for carbon copies. You can get inspired but you need to tweak around with the notes so that they don’t sound similar.

If yours is the original track, why will you not want to get credit from Ottawan too?
• Koto case korbo? Then, I will need to file a suit against a Chinese composer too who has remixed this number. But now that allegations are being made, I shall certainly file a suit. Ottawan copied from me!