Ya Ali, an Arabic Rip off

Courtesy: IndiaFM
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Pritam is in a soup yet again for plagiarism. This time it's for the song 'Ya Ali' from the film Gangster, which apparently is a copy of an originally Arabic number called 'Ya Ghali'. The song 'Ya Ghali' is being composed by a Kuwait based band called GuiTaRa. The band seems to be very upset with the Bollywood composer using their tune without even informing them. The band leader Fahad Shammoh says that they saw the song on TV and it is completely stolen. He says that the credit for the success of 'Ya Ali' goes to 'Ya Ghali' and therefore the profits should be shared with them.

Apparently, the music company which owns the rights of the Arabic song is owned by Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia royal family. The Prince is now planning to sue Pritam over the issue and the case is in progress. Pritam however, denies getting "inspiration" from 'Ya Ghali'. He says that he didn't know this song even existed. He says that he was inspired by a Muslim folk song which has been around for centuries.

However, Zubeen Garg, the singer of 'Ya Ali' says that he knew about the original song but adds that it's not being completely copied. Zubeen says that sometimes it's the producer's insistence for a particular and the composer has no say in it.