"The Final Countdown" is a 1986 hit single released by the Swedish metal band Europe. “Mere Rang Mein Rangne Waali” is a super-hit track from the 1989 Bollywood super-hit “Maine Pyar Kiya”.
"I Just Called to Say I Love You" is a song written, produced, and performed by Stevie Wonder as part of the soundtrack to the 1984 film “The Woman in Red”.
“Aate Jaate” is again a super-hit track from “Maine Pyar Kiya”.
Just a few quick facts before we get into analysing plagiarism seriously.
My curiosity and research on the subject of plagiarism has led me to the belief that it’s not something that can be completely defined by anybody. According to Plagiarism.org, many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work, or borrowing someone else's original ideas.
But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
Turning in someone else's work as your own
Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.
So, what can be plagiarized?
Movie Scripts
Book Manuscripts
Lyrics and Dialogues
Research Papers
Political Speeches
Organizational Publications
Brand Logo Units
Web Designs
Hardware and Software
Any other form of written or spoken literature
Any other form of design
This may not be an exhaustive list but gives a fair idea of what can be plagiarized.
Arguably, the biggest problem with defining plagiarism is that most of the time, it is confused with inspiration. A part of plagiarism can be easily referred to as inspiration (read “inspired by”) but the real conflict is to define the magnitude of that “part”. And that “part” is crucial in defining the severity of the crime or the originality of the idea.
Let’s now discuss “Plagiarism in the country of a billion people.” The first question I’d put to myself and to all those who are reading this article is—why India doesn’t seem to be on the same page as the world, on the issue of plagiarism?
Probably because:
Corruption, Pollution, Poverty and Illiteracy are much bigger issues than plagiarism.
People who create the original and are really bothered about plagiarism don’t want to be born in India or don’t want to stay in India, because their original work is more safe and respected outside India.
People are unaware of terms like “Intellectual Property Rights”, “Copyright Protected”, “Infringement” etc.
No legal structure to prevent plagiarizing and people being unaware that plagiarism is a serious legal offence.
Indians can’t draw a line between plagiarism and inspiration.
Talking of inspiration, we Indians have this striking streak of dishonesty that ruins the nexus of creativity and originality. So, when Mr. Ram Gopal Varma makes “Sarkar,” he is candid about the fact that all his life he has been hugely inspired by Mario Puzo’s “Godfather” and he makes it a point to mention that in the movie as well. But when Mr. David Dhawan makes “Partner”, a remake of “Hitch” with some scenes lifted unashamedly from the Will Smith starrer, Mr. Dhawan never bothers to give credits to the original.
Walking through the corridors of one of the underground markets in the capital city of India, with my friend, I asked one of the shopkeepers, “Sir, why is that you make fakes when you have everything to make the original?” and the reply I got was one garnished with ultimate confidence.
“Sir, in the time that you create one original, make it a popular property and then sell it for 100 bucks, we will create 10 fakes with little compromises and sell it for 11 bucks each!” Befuddled and overwhelmed, I asked my friend “Why is that we buy fakes when we can buy original?” and he replied “Rather than having one for 100, I want to have 10 real fakes for 11 each.” Fish! This is vicious. But I am sure that most Indians would have the same thought.
Another fact that kills me every time I visit a multiplex is that though the Indian Film Industry comes out with more than 600 films per year, and I happen to see just 5% of them, most of the times, I am overwhelmed by a feeling of Déjà vu! Why don’t we have our own JK Rowling, who can create a character as or even more popular than Harry Potter, yet entirely different from him? Am I expecting too much? I read articles talking about India rising from the slumber, but I see them waking in somebody else’s world, which they want to make their own.
My question is still all over the place and remains unanswered. Why, why in a country of billion people with so many cultures, languages and ways of lifestyle is plagiarism so prevalent? Why is there scantiness of fresh ideas, creativity and a characteristic lack of audacity to walk virgin paths? In this troublesome thought of why my fellow Indians are not rising above dollars and pounds, I have picked a point that says it all about why we the Indians don’t believe in doing something unseen, unheard and something our own!
The reason is Atychiphobia, the fear of failure. In a country, that personifies hardcore in-house competitiveness, everybody wants to run hand-in-hand with the economic growth of the country, everybody wants to be successful and there are no allowances made for failure. So, how does a population of one billion make that happen?
Everybody wants to bet on the horse that wins the race because it assures you victory. People wonder if a new horse has been trained properly and most importantly, if it will assure you a sure-shot win, because after all, nobody wants to fail.
The sinking feeling of “what if it doesn’t click?” takes you to “how can we make it click?” Consequently, we reach the thought “Let’s work on something that clicked!” and then comes unfaithful inspiration that leads to unintended plagiarism.
Think from the point of view of an Indian who in his life of struggle has always wanted this opportunity of showcasing his talent, his guts even if he doesn’t have ‘em. When his dreams come true and he gets that opportunity, he doesn’t want to lose anymore time creating something brand new, something original and something that might probably go unnoticed.
So, the next step is to look for inspiration from “something” very successful, very remarkable. The “something” is worked on for sometime and a new version of “something” is created picking the real essence of the original “something”! It may not be as successful as the original, but a lot of smaller doors of opportunity open up for that person, which is not bad at all. The amount of credit he gives to the original idea depends on his integrity.
The fact is that there is much more plagiarism than we thought, the only thing is that they have not surfaced. I see plagiarism in our movies, in our music, in our home interiors, in our study books, in our websites, in our B-grade films (they are highly plagiarized, even the love-making scenes………..can’t we even make love in our own way?) and most importantly in our thought and thinking process.
Going back a few steps, getting inspired or copying would be slightly respectable if we had the guts to admit it and mention it candidly, but the fact is that we don’t. We don’t want to be termed as losers or “uncreative” people and we don’t want to be told “this is not your own!”
I don’t want to sound as if I am blaming the whole country or disapproving the national characteristic, but we are talking about “Plagiarism in a Country of a Billion People” and I see it happening everywhere. I remember this moment when Mr. Nagesh Kukunoor received the Filmfare Award for the best story for his directorial “Iqbal” and he said something that I can’t quote properly but what he meant was that we can surely have more original stories in a country of a billion people and the idea of writing this article came from those “few words”!
I’d close with a few suggestions:
Always credit the original no matter how much inspired your work is.
There are more than 5000 types of fauna and flora, 193 countries and unlimited human emotions. Take time to think original because fakes and remakes mostly look good, but they don’t feel good. It’s easy to catch plagiarism and even easier to spot fakes and remakes.
Don’t let your “Train” get “Derailed” if you want to be a creator, or else go and sell yourself to Xerox, they make good copiers!
By the way, you should listen to all the four songs mentioned in the beginning of the article. You won’t be surprised.
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