Indian Composer Accused of ‘Copying’ Tune of Israeli National Anthem for 1996 Song

Shiryn Ghermezian

Anu Malik. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Twitter users are accusing an Indian composer and singer of plagiarizing Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” for a song he composed in 1996, India’s news outlet NDTV reported on Monday.

After Israel’s national anthem was played at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday when Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat was presented his gold medal, social media users noticed a similarity between the track and Anu Malik’s Indian song “Mera Mulk Mera Desh” from the 1996 film “Diljale.” The “Indian Idol” judge, 60, is now being charged on Twitter with “copying” and “stealing” the tune of “Hatikvah,” which was composed in the 19th century and adopted as Israel’s national anthem in 1948.

“The National anthem tune has some familiarity to the Indian song.. Mera Mulk Mera Desh?? Or is it just me?” wrote one Twitter user. Others noted the “uncanny resemblance” between the two songs and while another said: “So Anu Malik didn’t spare even Israeli national anthem while copying tune for Diljale’s Mera Mulk Mera Desh in 1996. Thanks to internet we now know this.”

Malik has won several awards for composing songs for films. He has penned music in Bollywood for over 40 years and has been accused of plagiarizing material several times in the past, according to NDTV.