Mashooqa, the new romantic song from Cocktail 2, has gone viral for more than its visuals. While many viewers praised the chemistry between Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon, a section of social media users said the tune sounded very close to a 1993 Italian track, Se So Arrubate A Nonna.
The online debate gathered pace after a Reddit user shared clips from both songs side by side and pointed to what they called striking similarities. Since then, social media have split into two camps, with some accusing composer Pritam of copying the tune and others saying the resemblance could be a case of sampling rather than direct plagiarism.
Why is Mashooqa trending online?
Mashooqa has been composed by Pritam, written by Amitabh Bhattacharya and sung by Raghav Chaitanya and Mahmood Ruaa Kayy. The Italian portions have been written and performed by Mahmood. In the track, Kriti Sanon and Shahid Kapoor’s characters are seen travelling together and gradually falling in love.
Se So Arrubate A Nonna,on the other hand,is a comedic Neapolitan song by Italian duo Bibi & Coco. It was released in 1993 as part of their album Le Origini Vol. 2. The title roughly translates to “The Kidnapped Grandma” in the Neapolitan dialect.
According to posts shared online, several listeners felt the two tracks sounded almost identical.
One of the social media users wrote, “There is no song of Pritam that hasn’t been copied (sic).” Another user said, “Chori karke bhi dull gana banaya pritam ne (Even after stealing, Pritam created a unique masterpiece)(sic).” A third user said, “Yeh kya gandi copy hai (What a bad copy) (sic).”
At the same time, some users defended Pritam and argued that similarity alone did not prove copying. One Reddit user explained, “This is called sampling, not stealing/copying. It’s when you take the main beat of a song and layer other instruments over it with changed lyrics. It’s a very popular concept in the music industry. Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Kanye and many more artists also sample songs (sic).”
Has Pritam responded to the allegations?
Neither Pritam nor the makers have reacted to the allegations of plagiarism yet.
This is not the first time the music composer has faced plagiarism allegations. Over the years, social media users have pointed to similarities between some of his compositions and international tracks. In 2017, accusations also surfaced over Bulleyafrom Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, with some comparing it to music by the band Papa Roach.
Which movie features the song Mashooqa?
Directed by Homi Adajania, Cocktail 2 also stars Rashmika Mandanna in a lead role. The romantic comedy is a spiritual sequel to the 2012 film Cocktail, which starred Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on June 19.
– Ends
