Here i once again come with an interesting topic on Plagiarism.But this time its about the Movies inspired from the West.The average Indian Film viewer does not watch any Hollywood movies or other foreign films.So this gives the film makers an enticing option to resort to the easiest - they rehash the foreign movies,'indianize' them by adding so called "Masala" or "Commercial" items like songs,stunts,comedy,etc and release them.Though not high on creativity they have mastered the art of CUT-COPY-PASTE,which is also challenging in a way.The Hollywood movies in general last for about 90minutes but in India an average film is screened for an average time of 2 hours.So the directors are forced to add some commercial items as mentioned earlier to market the films in India.Most of the audiences are not aware of this fact.So,I have managed to bring out some of the famous Indian films "borrowed"from Foreign films and also giving an overview of the story of the same :
NAYAGAN/SARKAR from THE GODFATHER:
These three films carry the same story line of a Mafia don to whom the people turn for justice. The challenge to the Don’s authority comes, when he refuses to be a part of the narcotic’s business. The role of Don was played by Marlon Brando,Amitabh Bachann and Kamal Hassan in English, Hindi and Tamil Versions respectively.
PATTIYAL/PUDUPETTAI from THE CITY OF GOD:
City of GOD is a movie based on a place called Cidade de deus in the interior parts of Brazil. It involves the harsh realities of the slum world such as drug rackets, gang war and violence. The film also portrays the life of two murderers who ruled the City of god.While Pudpettai is about a everyday-man who ends up as a dreaded ganster.The film also portrays the other end of the society with full of drugs, women and murder. On the other hand Pattiyal is about two orphaned youngsters who lead their life as a contract killer. As a study of gangster's life, Pattiyal is realistic and in some cases depressing.
All these three films focus mainly on the real society and life of the world of gangsters. The mixture of Both Pattiyal and Pudupettai is City of God.
GHAJINI from MEMENTO:
Ghajini is a mere adoption of the film The Memento revolving around a man suffering from short term memory loss who hunts for the person who killed his wife. The hero of the film makes use of the tattoos and notes to identify the intruder.The only difference between the two films is the “Screenplay”,Memento has a complex screenplay because the coloured scenes are told in reverse chronological order while the black and white scenes are done in chronological order. Both the color and black and white scenes are alternately interspersed throughout the movie in a set pattern whereas Ghajini has a perfect screen play of a normal Tamil movie.
AVAISHANMUGHI/CHACHI 420 FROM MRS.DOUBTFIRE:
Avai Shanmughi is also a mere adoption of the film Mrs.Doubtfire.The film is about a couple after a bitter divorce, the hero disguises himself as a female housekeeper to spend secret time with his children held in custody by his Ex-wife.The climax ends with the reunion of the family.The film was exactly copied by Kamal and was again remade in Hindi.The famous Hollywood star Robin Williams played the ‘father’ character while Kamal did the same in Tamil/Hindi.
PACHAIKILLI MUTHUCHARAM from DERAILED:
Most of us are not aware of this fact that this film is a plagiarized one. The story is about an everyday person having secret relationship with a woman whom he met on a train.The friendship slowly develops into a relationship and finally they land up in a cottage. As they think of making love, a stranger barges in, knocks off the hero and sexually assaults her. And takes their numbers, and starts threatening them. The story finally ends in finding that the woman herself was the reason for the drama that took place in the cottage and it was staged to nab the hero’s money.The director of the tamil version of the film Gautham Menon has added some "commercial elements" to make the film a hit but it turned to be the opposite.
BLACK from THE MIRACLE WORKER:
BLACK is a present-day, Sanjay Leela Bhansali interpretation of Helen Keller's exceptional life and the role Annie Sullivan played in her life. The real-life story was presented on the big screen in the Hollywood flick The Miracle Woker [1962].The story is about the life of a teacher who teaches a deaf and dumb girl to communicate and attain graduation. But towards the end of the film, the teacher begins to forget everything.The roles gets reversed now and the student does the same to the teacher.The film “Black” won the National Award for the "Best Actor for the year 2005" for Amitabh Bachann who played the role of the teacher in this film.
AYUTHA EZHUTHU from AMORES PERROS:
Amores perros involves a horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.While Ayutha Ezhuthu is about the life of three youths who have different perspective towards life until they cross path one day and then life undergoes a sea change for the three.Mani Ratnam has his own style of story telling and creativity. Mani has managed only to lift the base line of the story and has bought out the film to suit the Indian film audiences.
Some of the plagiarized films in India:
Foreign/Other Language films – Indian Film(Plagiarized)
Sound of Music – Shanthi Nilayam
A Kiss Before dying – Baazigar
Body Double – Pehla Nasha
What about Bob? – Deewana Mastanna
The Gift – Rakht
ET – Koi Mila Gaya
Big – New
Misery – Julie Ganapathy
Christine – Taarzan the wonder car
Unfaithful – Murder
The Eye – Naina
Double Joepordy – Dhosth
The Seven Year Itch – Masti
The Ring – Krishna Cottage
I think i have somehow managed to bring some of the very famous Tamil and Hindi films inspired from the West.
