Docu on to copy(right) or wrong

A still from director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Black.

A still from the 1962 film The Miracle Worker. (Check video for the similarity between the two films)

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Mumbai: We have always known it exists, we have talked about it, we have practically condoned it but now there are three Mumbaiites who have made a documentary on it. We're talking about Bollywood's affinity to plagiarism.

The documentary starts with the note: “We present a four step plan if executed our plagiarists friends can bypass all copyrights and critics”.

And so begins the Four Step Plan, a 60-minute documentary with a sarcastic take on plagiarism in Bollywood.

Made by three Mumbai teenagers, who didn’t want to spew gyaan but just share some of their amazement to revelations about films we have adored and admired.

Take for example how they rip apart Sanjay Leela Bhansali's much acclaimed Black which is taken generously from the 1962's film The Miracle Worker or Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar which is a frame by frame copy of Breaking Away.

"The sarcastic approach is because our objective is to tell people that it is a crime. Some people have got angry with us, they've said so what, it’s entertainment,” writer and director of Four Step Plan, Chaitanya Tamhane says.

Dub it, turn it, twist and spice it up, stretch it or as a last resort, deny or justify it - this is the proposed four step plan that the documentary suggests Bollywood filmmakers take up if they wish to forgo an original idea.

"Many a times we have felt that it’s not their choice but if they wish to exist in the industry they have to resort to such things,” assistant director of Four Step Plan, Sudeep Modak says.

With writers from the film industry who openly claim that they have stolen stories to writers like Vijay Tendulalkar who cannot understand why remakes are made, Four Step Plan provokes thought, even if technically the film may seem a tad amateurish at first.

We always knew that Bollywood films have been inspired but what about those melodies that have become part and parcel of our lives? Well the film also tells us that they were never ours actually.