Click to play videoMumbai: In what is clearly a first of sorts, a major Hollywood studio is contemplating action against a Bollywood film producer for plagiarism.
Sony Pictures Entertainment along with Overbrook Entertainment may file a $30 million suit against Eros Entertainment and K Sera Sera, the producers of the Salman Khan-Govinda starrer Partner, which has been accused of being an out-and-out copy of the Will Smith film Hitch which Overbrook Entertainment produced for Sony Pictures.
Like Will Smith in Hitch, Salman plays a love guru in Partner, who comes to the rescue of those who can't woo their women without some help.
For the director of Partner, David Dhawan, this may be the first time he's being sued for plagiarism, but it isn't the first time that he has copied from a Hollywood movie.
Some of his films that have been copied from Hollywood hits are Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya which is lifted from the film Cactus Flower, Chor Machaye Shor is a copy of Blue Streak while Kyunki Main Jhooth Nahin Bolta is loosely based on Liar Liar.
“Foreign studios are making a beeline for India so they are more aware of the Hindi film market and they are bound to take action if their plots are lifted with permission,” filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj said.
In all fairness, plagiarism is hardly a new practice in Bollywood. For over three decades now, Bollywood producers have been lifting plots, treatment and entire screenplay of Hollywood films.
While movies like Kaante, Red, Kasoor, Main Aisa Hi Hoon, The Train, Ek Ajnabee and so many others may have got away scot-free, it does seem like Hindi film producers will now have to exercise caution before shamelessly ripping off American films.
Of late though, Bollywood seems to have turned to many foreign language films for inspiration. While Sanjay Gupta's Zinda was an unapologetic copy of the Korean film Old Boy, the small-budget success Bheja Fry is a frame-by-frame, shot-by-shot imitation of the French film The Dinner Game, and Mohit Suri's Awarapan was blatantly plagiarised from the Korean film A Bittersweet Life.
According to sources in the film trade, Hollywood studios are now paying close attention to the Indian film industry because they have recognised that significant revenues are being earned from the Bollywood overseas market, and they are keen to claim their piece of the pie.
In typical Bollywood fashion, neither the director nor the producers of Partner are willing to comment on the fact that they may face a legal suit for plagiarism.
If indeed the case is filed, it will be the first such instance in Bollywood. One can only hope it is also the last such instance.
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