No, Russian Music at BRICS Summit Isn't 'Copied' from Hindi Song 'Darling'

The 7 Khoon Maaf track 'Darling' is inspired from Russian melody 'Kalinka' and not the other way round.

Fact-check: A false claim about a Russian melody playing at the BRICS Summit being inspired by Vishal Bhardwaj's song 'Darling' is going viral online.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video from the BRICS Summit which took place in Kazan, Russia is going viral online, which shows a Russian melody being played in the background.

The Video: It also shows leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoying the performance.

The claim: Social media users are sharing the clip to claim that Russia "copied" this melody from a Hindi song titled 'Darling' composed by an Indian filmmaker and a musical composer, Vishal Bhardwaj.

• This song was featured in the Bollywood movie 7 Khoon Maaf which was released in 2011.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

But..?: The truth is that 7 Khoon Maaf track 'Darling' is inspired from Russian melody 'Kalinka' and not the other way round.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a relevant keyword search and found a report shared by Hindustan Times on 29 December 2010.

• The report stated that 'Darling' was inspired from the Russian Red Army choir's song 'Kalinka'.

• It added that "a source associated with Bhardwaj confirmed this" and it also fits the scene where actor Priyanka Chopra’s character Susanna marries a Russian character, Vronsky.

The Hindi song was inspired by a Russian melody.

(Source: HT/screenshot)

• We also found an online version of the movie on streaming platform, Netflix, and the end credits of the movie mentioned that the inspiration was taken from the original Russian song, 'Kalinka'.

The Hindi song was inspired by a Russian melody, Kalinka.

(Source: Screenshot)

You can listen to the Russian melody here.

Conclusion: A false claim about a Russian melody playing at the BRICS Summit being inspired by Vishal Bhardwaj's song 'Darling' is going viral online.

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