A fine line between inspiration and plagiarism...

.... and I'm sure Bappi-da and Anu Malik would agree with me.

Take this for an example.

"Don't phunk with my heart" is a very catchy tune by The Black Eyed Peas (who I quite like, btw.)

The opening riff is very familiar, but of course it would be - very straight-forwardly "inspired by" "Yeh mera Dil, Pyar ka Deewana" - that awesome Helen number from Don.

I knew that.

What I didn't know is that The Peas have also lifted the rest of the song from other sources (Shock! Horror!)

The website Pardonmyhindi.com has an article called "Dont Phunk with Kalyanji/Anandji".

The Peas' phunky thievery doesn't end there. The group also snatched lyrics from "I Wonder If I Take You Home," a 1985 hit by Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam

Moreover -

Maybe the Peas were having a bout of writer's block, so they grabbed a rhythm and melody from the soundtrack to the film "Apradh."

Grabbed indeed. The song is called "Ae naujawan sab kuchh yahan". You can listen to a sample of the song here at the bottom of this page here.

When contacted for comment (not by me), they said (not to me) -

"We fused Lisa Lisa with Bollywood and Miami bass [on "Don't Phunk"] So that's a whole new, different sound."

Hmmph! At least think of an original comment - this sounds uncannily like Anu "Oonchi Hai Building" Malik.

Incidentally, The Peas have done it before. Old news perhaps, but on their first album Elephunk, they "grabbed" an Illayaraja number and "fused" it with some hip-hop beats and called it The Elephunk Theme. While it sounds quite good, I must admit I don't know if Illayaraja has been credited on the album or not.

Go here and listen to both songs.

Btw, pardonmyhindi has a cool T-shirt of Kalyanji/Anandji here. Quite cool in a post-ironic desi retro chic kind of way. Or something like that anyway.