Sunday, October 13, 2002		Lead Article

Bollywood flash
Lata Mangeskhar sues rap star for $500 million

THE Indian nightingale, Lata Mangeshkar, has sued international rap star, Truth Hurts, for a whopping $500 million, for plagiarising her song, Thoda resham lagta hai. television viewers will remember seeing the videos of the Truth Hurt song, as well as its remixed Indian version, which is already on air. The suit has been filed by Mangeshkar as well as the Indian music company, Saregama, and alleges that the rap star has used an unlicensed sample from the 20-year old track 'Thoda reshamlLagta hai in its track, Addictive. "When you hear it, it's like, 'Oh my god, they didn't even try to get original with it," says her lawyer, Dedra S. Davis. "They didn't try to change it up or anything like that." The album has sold more than 273,000 copies in the USA. The suit has been filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, on September 12, and a pre-trial hearing is scheduled for November 22.

Mangeshkar feels that ripping off original tracks, and then remixing them, is the biggest menace that faces the music industry today. 'I am very disturbed by the way, even in India, our songs are plagiarised,' she laments. — LMN