Krazzy 4 a lift?

doweshowbellyad=0; Rituparna Sengupta in a working still from Anjan Das��� Swarger Nichey Manush(TOI Photo) With so much of brouhaha being made over the Krazzy 4 plagiarism act, the most obvious question is whether this landmark judgment will deter pirates of Hollywood and European film DVDs.
If Pakistan can make an original film like Khuda Kay Liye, will our film-makers take a lesson or two and try to peddle originality as well? Karthik S, the owner of the site that tracks plagiarism of Bollywood songs, believes Ram Sampath���s is a one-off case.Ask him about the growing fear of being sued because of the easy access these days on the Internet, and he says, ���The big companies who are coming to India are the original owners of the works. I���m sure none of them would hurt the same hand that feeds them here in India.���
A strong point indeed but what���s even a stronger question is why Indian producers still lack the conviction in original scripts? The moment a director says he is willing to remake a Hollywood hit, he gets an appointment with the biggest of Bollywood producers. But the same director will live to narrate a different tale if he dreams of selling an original script! The smarter ones try disguising their sources by being ���inspired��� by portions from Spanish, French or Polish films and plays. Some add a credit line and mention their ���inspirations��� in their promotional interviews. That���s why the success of a Bheja Fry or even the brilliance of Juhi Chawla���s performance in Bas Ek Pal quietly camouflage that these too were copies!
If the new-age film-makers who dream of taking Indian cinema to a global platform think it���s right to copy, what stops the rest from shamelessly and, quite arrogantly, doing a lift kara de? So, while plagiarism gets institutionalised, copycats turn judges too!
In our own backyard, the Ram Sampath case has little chance of appreciating originality in a commercial format. Admits director Anjan Das, who is now shooting for Swarger Nichey Manush, ���I choose to make different kinds of films and only work with producers who have a back-up and don���t completely rely on making business from my films. For Sanjhbatir Roopkathara, I had to meet at least 17 financiers to finally get the go-ahead. The Ram Sampath case will not deter Tollywood producers from funding unauthorised Tamil and Telugu remakes.���
Stiff competition also ensures that if one director puts his foot down, there are still 20 others ready to oblige and to ensure a rickety future as opposed to a bleak one. Bappaditya Bandopadhyay recalls that amidst the hundreds of authorised Tamil/Telugu remakes in Tollywood, there has only been one producer from down South who has sued a Bengali remake director! ���There is no
appreciation of originality in commercial Bengali cinema where directors hardly have any say apart from saying ���action��� and ���cut���. Producers take care of the rest. I refused an offer to remake Arth in Bangla. A Bengali film has done an unauthorised remake of a Rajen Tarafdar���s Jiban Kahini!��� says Bandopadhyay.
Producer Mahendra Soni, however, feels this landmark judgment will slowly make producers sit up and pull up their socks. ���If it���s happened in Mumbai, there is no reason that such litigations can���t happen in Kolkata. If we do complete remakes, we take rights from the original makers.���
However, when it comes to scene and song lifts in Bengali films, nobody is that bothered. Fear in the law will come only if there are a series of landmark copyright verdicts in India. The same unauthorised-remake producers will do a volte-face and insist on financing only original works if the law forces them to compensate for copying. Money talks and till such time that happens, a lone Ram Sampath can buy a piano with his compensation money while the copycats continue to sing another tune.