The Bollywood film industry has been using ideas from foreign films since its inception. This “borrowing” has ranged from melodies for background scores to entire plot summaries and even translated dialogues. However, with the advent of technology and the increasing popularity of Bollywood cinema in the United States, we are beginning to see American film producers “borrowing” Bollywood film elements as well. Prominent examples are the use of the Bollywood song “Chamma Chamma” from the Hindi movie China Gate as a dance number in Moulin Rouge; the use of the Bollywood song “Chaiyya Chaiyya” as the title song for the Hollywood movie Inside Man; and the Black Eyed Peas sampling of songs from both Don and Apradh on the track “Don’t Phunk with my Heart”.
The media exchange between both nations is increasing as Bollywood actors and directors are entering the Hollywood industry while Hollywood filmmakers and production companies are trying to break into the Bollywood media market. As the cross-border media sharing intensifies, the need for answers regarding legal implications for both nations increases. While both countries have copyright statutes and are signatories to numerous treaties regarding intellectual property rights there is a lack of enforcement of these provisions in the Indian courts.
There is a great need for international collaboration between the United States and Indian governments to work towards a solution to this legal issue. As evidenced by the Indian High Court’s ruling against Will Smith’s production company’s suit against the Bollywood producers who re-made Hitch without permission, the two governments have vastly different approaches to intellectual property rights enforcement. Without some way for Hollywood and Bollywood film producers to compromise and reach a mutual understanding regarding sampling each other’s productions, the creativity that could be fostered by increased communication is hindered. Furthermore, without some sort of reprimand for producers who abuse their “sampling” privileges and effectively steal whole works of others, relations between these two film industry giants will be frayed.
For further reading on this topic, check out this, this, & this.
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