Copyright issues come home as EMI says DMPS hasn't credited a classic song

E-Paper | April 24, 2026

Is local cinema confused about copyrights?

That's what recent legal notices issued by EMI to this year's crop of films seems to suggest.

Of late, filmmakers have taken to resurrecting the classics in their work, presenting them to today's audience anew. Bajrangi Bhaijaan's use of the Sabri brother's Bhar Do Joli 'without the fulfillment of legal requirements' prompted EMI Pakistan to take action.

EMI Pakistan is now raising objections against Dekh Magar Pyaar Se's use of Naheed Akhtar's song 'I Am Sweety'.

DMPS has a remix of Naheed Akhtar's 'I Am Sweety' in its soundtrack

"The song 'I Am Sweety' featured in DMPS is from EMI Pakistan's archive and was sung by Naheed Akhtar," EMI Pakistan's Zeeshan Chaudhry told Dawn.com. "It was also released in a Babra Sharif film called Kora Kaghaz. DMPS has not fulfilled the formality of asking for permission to feature this song in the movie. The song's original singer and creator was not credited either."

"There was a lot of attention given to copyright issues in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, but my main concern is that within Pakistan we don't even credit our own musicians. We point fingers at Bollywood, but first we must set our own house in order. It is about giving respect to our own artists," he added.

Many question whether the copyrights of classic songs are valid; some pose the argument that they are now part of the region's folklore and hence open for use by all.

However, according to Pakistan's Copyright Ordinance (1962), copyrights of musical works published during the lifetime of artistes are valid throughout their lifetime and till 50 years of their passing, according to which 'I Am Sweety's copyright still holds.

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Ahsan

Aug 08, 2015 05:52pm

EMI died with cassettes. They are just greedy for money. All thier cases lack reason. Court should once and for all decide this matter.

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AXH

Aug 08, 2015 08:00pm

The matter of copy rights needs to be seriously enforced in Pakistan.

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zak

Aug 08, 2015 09:31pm

We should understand our strength.no other film industry can give lollywood a race for money.remember waar is highest collecting film of world,a whoofing 25billion$.

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shereen

Aug 08, 2015 10:18pm

@Ahsan thats strange logic. The copyright is a legal problem. If EMI wants to sue for a breach of their rights thats fine. Ethics and moral right or wrong is not the point.

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Parwaiz Abidi

Aug 08, 2015 10:58pm

The issue of giving credit to and compensate those artists that have produced original music is the reason where Indian artist regularly copy the melody and make it their own. Even the top tier artist from India take the liberty of singing music that was composed by Pakistani music directors. One such example is "Aaj janay ki zid na karo" which has been sung by Asha Bhosle without giving any credit to Sohail Rana who composed the song for the movie 'Badal Aur Bijli'. There are at least a dozen artists in India who have sung the song and most Indians think that it was composed by an Indian. India has been plagiarizing music from all parts of the world since the late 20's when recorded music was introduced in India. In those days most of the music that was copied was jazz and recorded with Hindi or Urdu lyrics added to the tunes which were not composed by Indian music directors and were never given credit.

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Guest

Aug 08, 2015 11:39pm

@zak Avatar is the highest grossing film ever at $2.7 billion. Waar grossed $3.9 million. $25 billion would suggest 10 times the audience of Avatar.

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Unicorn

Aug 08, 2015 11:41pm

@zak 25 billion what?

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Tanweer Khan

Aug 09, 2015 12:05am

@zak whoa and I thought Avatar or Titanic were the highest grossing ones ever at $ 2.5billion. Are you seriously implying Waar collected 10 times as much as either of those two. I think you need to seriously revisit your numbers. At best Waar probably only made $ 5 million max - and not the $ 25 billion that you have suggested.

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IAMKhan

Aug 09, 2015 02:21am

@zak ,,, where did you get this figure,,,,, it was not even $25m... let alone $25bn

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IAMKhan

Aug 09, 2015 02:30am

@zak ,... by IBDM calculations it did $9m and at max $10m at most...

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Raja Hindustani

Aug 09, 2015 11:47am

@zak : i hope you r aware how many zero are there in a billion. :)

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i am sweety too

Aug 09, 2015 12:21pm

Old Pakistani movies are a treasure trove of music. EMI does hold copyrights over a majority. someone should browse through their cataligue to know what they are talking about. the new film makers aiming for international exposure, must respect international norms and laws as well. The copyrights laws have come about for a reason and it is for their own protection also.

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sheraz

Aug 10, 2015 12:46am

Kora Kaghz (1978) had a Taslim Fazli song 'some say I am sweaty' sung by Nahid Akhtar and composed by Nazir Ali. Since EMI had usually the exclusive rights to release Pakisfani film songs during most of 1970s, their claim has a basis. However, it needs to be seen whether M. Akram, director and producer of the film, sold permanent rights to EMI or not. If not EMI it is M. Akram, who owns these songs. The poet and composer may also be parties to the issue because they, as the logic warrants, only allowed use of the song for a particular film. Pakistan and India are signatoy to international agreements on intellectual property rights mainstreamed in the respective local laws by both countries therefore a Pakistani firm or individual can always claim damages in the event of loss of intangible property

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sheraz

Aug 10, 2015 01:03am

@Ahsan if it is EMI which invested in the song by buying rights from producer, poet and composer, and recording and release etc., it is the rightful owner. Intangible assets are assets and protected by law. If protecting one'asset against theft is greed, than it is a sanctified human characteristic.

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Mosiqar

Aug 10, 2015 07:18am

@Tanweer Khan He's talking about in Zimbabwe dollars. Please try to convert $1.00 U.S. To Zimbabwe dollar. And you will have your answer

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