Plagiarism redefined...
If somebody watches advertisements very carefully and on a regular basis, it is impossible for him/her to notice the fight of Bollywood against piracy. It says piracy kills the originality, that the lost money makes producers turn into their graveyards and that with every pirated version of a VCD or DVD we are only killing the original goose. So, kill piracy and save the originality.
Not so long ago, India didn’t have a full fledged patent law to protect original inventions (it had for processes though) and recent Madras High court order showed that there is a clear fight between original intellectual monopoly and pirated copy cats. Hence, if you believe in original version, shell out more to get such exclusivity.
I almost take that argument for granted. For Novartis, but not for Bollywood.
On numerous occasions, I had an argument with majority of my friends about Bollywood and its quality. Without even a semblance of chance, Bollywood loses out on quality, screenplay, direction and script/story. The argument then shifts to an emotional plane – that “people need pure entertainment”. This is as vague as it sounds as by definition entertainment is personal and hence couldn't be the goal for a mass medium. That we believe in fooling ourselves and believe that some god send heroes and extraordinarily beautiful heroines would make our society livable is good enough to cast a shadow on our logical thinking. Then the discussion changes into “we” versus “them”. They are they, so why should we copy them, why should we not have our own dance and song item numbers and that by doing such great service we would be a proud producer of Indian culture and social values. Simply put, we can never argue with the emotional majority.
But I would have accepted their emotionally charged, patriotic sentiments if I would have got some originality in Bollywood. From the day I remember, best and most of the mainstream Bollywood movies (or so called successful movies) are nothing but an “inspired version” of either some regional ones or of some Hollywood flicks. To illustrate my point I give below a sample list of such inspirations.
Not so long ago, India didn’t have a full fledged patent law to protect original inventions (it had for processes though) and recent Madras High court order showed that there is a clear fight between original intellectual monopoly and pirated copy cats. Hence, if you believe in original version, shell out more to get such exclusivity.
I almost take that argument for granted. For Novartis, but not for Bollywood.
On numerous occasions, I had an argument with majority of my friends about Bollywood and its quality. Without even a semblance of chance, Bollywood loses out on quality, screenplay, direction and script/story. The argument then shifts to an emotional plane – that “people need pure entertainment”. This is as vague as it sounds as by definition entertainment is personal and hence couldn't be the goal for a mass medium. That we believe in fooling ourselves and believe that some god send heroes and extraordinarily beautiful heroines would make our society livable is good enough to cast a shadow on our logical thinking. Then the discussion changes into “we” versus “them”. They are they, so why should we copy them, why should we not have our own dance and song item numbers and that by doing such great service we would be a proud producer of Indian culture and social values. Simply put, we can never argue with the emotional majority.
But I would have accepted their emotionally charged, patriotic sentiments if I would have got some originality in Bollywood. From the day I remember, best and most of the mainstream Bollywood movies (or so called successful movies) are nothing but an “inspired version” of either some regional ones or of some Hollywood flicks. To illustrate my point I give below a sample list of such inspirations.
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Agneepath -- Scarface
Aitraaz -- Disclosure
Agni Shakshi -- Sleeping with the enemy
Ajnabee -- Consenting Adults
Baazigaar -- A kiss from dying
Black -- The miracle worker
Chalte Chalte --- Forget Paris
Criminal --- The Fugitive
Dil Chahata Hain --- St.Elmo's Fire / Reality Bites
Dhoom --- The fast and the furious
Dushman --- Eye for Eye
Raaz --- What Lies Beneath
Roja --- Frantic
Saajan ---- Roxanne
Satte pe satta ----7 brides for 7 brothers
SHOLAY ----The magnificient 7/ The wild bunch
/ Butch classidy / Sundance Kid
Tezaab ----The streets of fire
Jo jeeta wohi Sikandar --- Breaking away
Josh --- West side story
Ghulam ----- On the water front
Hera pheri ---- The sting
Humraaz ---- A perfect murder
Hum Tum ---- When Harry met Sally
Murder ---- Unfaithful
Munnabhai MBBS ---- Patch Adams
Life in a Metro ---- The Apartment
Bheja Fry ---- Diner au cons
Partner ---- The Hitch
(Source -- www.bollycat.com)
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In such a case, where even the best of the outcomes are nothing but far from original, what purpose is served for the audience is far from my understanding. An industry whose own products are nothing but a duplicate copy of some other products, an industry which even doesn’t admit its reckless copying attitude or an industry which doesn’t have a scant respect for other’s originality and creativity – boasts of creating a platform for being the flag bearer of a country’s culture. For them “copyright” means – “right to copy” when it comes to foreign movies. That the numbers of critically acclaimed movies are mostly out of bounds for mainstream audiences and directors is a testimony of the stakeholders considering this medium only as a business and not as a creative expression. The very fact that Bollywood has been horribly poor in making good movies for children and comedy classics shows their incapability of creativity as well as originality.
Except the fact that Bollywood has produced most memorable music, songs, musicians and singers (even though personally I think songs are mostly a no no in movies, music should be the only expression) I hardly see any other benefits from this huge industry.
If it is an industry then its products need to be original and world class, or if it is a medium of expression then it should have a quality output – in my book they are neither here nor there. Fortunately they have an audience which is largely unaware of the beauties of world cinema and also entertaining emotion get better of their logical and artistic senses while viewing the products. It hates the English version only to gobble up the desi “inspired versions” for their entertainment purpose.
That the basic purpose of any industry is moving up the value chain has got defeated in this Bollywood story. Yet they continue to fight against piracy and unauthorized copy cats.
This might sound like a snobbish and intellectually charged statement but I support pirated Hindi movie VCDs/DVDs – as these movies are nothing but a plagiarized version of a better creative mind. An industry which thrives only on plagiarism deserves nothing better than piracy from its own customers – after all brand value comes only from what the brand itself stands for.
P.S. – I am looking forward to the recent news of SONY Pictures suing the Indian producer of “Partner” for alleged unauthorized copy of “The Hitch”. Somewhere the Bollywood needs to be taught a lesson about respecting the originality.
In such a case, where even the best of the outcomes are nothing but far from original, what purpose is served for the audience is far from my understanding. An industry whose own products are nothing but a duplicate copy of some other products, an industry which even doesn’t admit its reckless copying attitude or an industry which doesn’t have a scant respect for other’s originality and creativity – boasts of creating a platform for being the flag bearer of a country’s culture. For them “copyright” means – “right to copy” when it comes to foreign movies. That the numbers of critically acclaimed movies are mostly out of bounds for mainstream audiences and directors is a testimony of the stakeholders considering this medium only as a business and not as a creative expression. The very fact that Bollywood has been horribly poor in making good movies for children and comedy classics shows their incapability of creativity as well as originality.
Except the fact that Bollywood has produced most memorable music, songs, musicians and singers (even though personally I think songs are mostly a no no in movies, music should be the only expression) I hardly see any other benefits from this huge industry.
If it is an industry then its products need to be original and world class, or if it is a medium of expression then it should have a quality output – in my book they are neither here nor there. Fortunately they have an audience which is largely unaware of the beauties of world cinema and also entertaining emotion get better of their logical and artistic senses while viewing the products. It hates the English version only to gobble up the desi “inspired versions” for their entertainment purpose.
That the basic purpose of any industry is moving up the value chain has got defeated in this Bollywood story. Yet they continue to fight against piracy and unauthorized copy cats.
This might sound like a snobbish and intellectually charged statement but I support pirated Hindi movie VCDs/DVDs – as these movies are nothing but a plagiarized version of a better creative mind. An industry which thrives only on plagiarism deserves nothing better than piracy from its own customers – after all brand value comes only from what the brand itself stands for.
P.S. – I am looking forward to the recent news of SONY Pictures suing the Indian producer of “Partner” for alleged unauthorized copy of “The Hitch”. Somewhere the Bollywood needs to be taught a lesson about respecting the originality.
Labels: Jehadi
11 Comments:
Bollywood often copies blatantly from successful hollywood movies- Its true but also innovates in making those copies acceptable ( in some case appreciable) to a large Indian Diaspora as well as domestic viewers. I think its justifiable to some extent as long as we have originals also.
Anindya....
I guess in almost all good universities and institutes it is mandatory to publish the source in case you have taken something from them. Making "inspirational movies" are a crime of different nature - but not respecting the originality and not accepting the plagiarism is a crime of the highest order.
The large Indian diaspora of which you are talking about, I guess hvn't seen the original ones or are more focussed on hero/heroines rather than plots.
But, as I have said - as you sow, so you reap. So a plagiarised movie could only expect a pirated customer.
The Bollywood movies adapt so much according to our environment ..which is commendable "Product Innovation"
Do you believe in the power of generic drugs...Do u think ranbaxy with write a thank you mail to pfizer in every lipitor capsule before selling it?
Today is the generation of Innovation rather than invention. Transforming a succesful idea,film into a marketeable product is the need of hour and bollywood copiers are just filling the latent need of film viewers..
@ Anindya...
Good that you mentioned that. I only hinted at the Madras High court decision's fallouts. Even though I agree with "product innovation", the fact remains that in almost all intellectual properties there is a safeguard against such actions. Ranbaxy has to wait till the said period of exclusivity is over.
As for your comment on innovation vs. invention - lets take a look at the world cinema. They are also going through the same cycle, they also need to think about the ideas you are talking about. But still they manage to produce original scripts and scores.
As I have said - Bollywood and quality doesn't go hand in hand and their comments of "we are doing what we are good at" sounds childish. It's like saying - since we can't compete at Olympics lets make an Indian Olympic.
But, yes I agree on their marketing prowess and capability of copying "successful ideas" without recognizing the originality of those. The latent need is a harsh statement as it only gives the customers to choose between suicide and murder.
There are a lot of originals ..nagesh kuknoor, rakesh mehra, Rahul dholakia(just won the national award)..In fact if u look around ..bollywood has created a niche genre which is being appreciated by urban population
So the new ideas and refinements are co-existing together and it should be biased(in fact generalised) to say that viewers have no choice..
@ Anindya...
Yeah you are correct. But what is the response of the crowd towards such films?
Parzania - mostly flop
Rakesh Mehera - only success in RDB, and I thought he diluted the subject with the love angle.
Nagesh Kuknoor - Dor is a superb film yet not successful commercially. Others like Hyderabad blues etc are also good but not sustainable.
The point remains - over the years the customers have been fed only with Sooraj Barjatiyas, Karan Johars and Aditya chopras. Most of the recent hero/heroines don't know about acting and dramatics. They look clown on the screen when they do such silly and utter nonsense things. Over the perios, this has killed the ingenuity inside the audiences.
Now it has come to a chicken -egg situation. People don't watch good films and good films are rarely made because of financial danger.
Who is to blame for this?
Replying to your chicken-egg situation..
It all depend on the level of investment and taste of viewers. If the film industry depends heavily on one channel of selling then there is little hope. But times are changing and Investment is also flowing .It is also interesting to note that many persons in an alternate profession are getting involved in film direction.(Cheeni Kum by R Balki - An adman)
The film industry has always ahd its share of popular and niche films. box office may be a financial parameter for film evaluation but there are a lot of other parameters in which bollywood films surpass.. Consider also many successful movies like lagaan, Black which were good to watch and also a hit at the box office.
@ Anindya...
I am getting where you are heading to. But my concern was different. Black had a wonderful subject, so did Lagaan and so many other films. But the handling of those delicate issues have been poor. And ultimately what you justify as a good movie is not by critical judgments but by financial parameters only.
I watched Cheeni kum, but I preferred Nishaabd, because it was portrayed better. Even though the final indianization is too silly for such a subject.
Take a look at "The Apartment" and "Life in a metro". You will see the difference. The immaturity is clear in most of the cases. They still can't think out of box when it comes to treating viewers with respect and mature mind.
They trivialize issues and screenplays with songs, dances and unnecessary characters. That is not only an insult to the original creation, but also injures the public at large by restricting their expressions.
Hera Pheri is not a copy of The Sting. And Saajan is not a copy of Roxanne. I have watched all four.
Apart from that all others are correct.
And originality was never Bollywood's forte. I have lost all hope for Bollywood long time back.
If SRK can be a superstar then what do we expect from bollywood. I have given up hope.
No story
No music
No literature
absolutely pointless movies. even 1 Re spent on movie these days is a wastage.
@ Spidey...
You are better placed in terms of knowledge in world cinema. So I accept your correction verbatim.
Its not only about hope, its about thinking in the right direction and trying to be mature.
@ GKA...
The question is not only about SRK. Music-dance sequences were there in Bollywood even before SRK, and will be there after SRK also (Pandora !!). The only difference has been the quality of these songs and music.
We have never consciously tried to think the way a good movie maker should think - about script, about music direction, about storyline and also about treating the audience as a mature one.
This has not only ensured the death of critical minds inside audiences but also helped only some below qualified movies to be classified as block busters.
The pain is more because of lack of intention within the fraternity about changing this mellodramatic scriptures.
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