Take Two

Theft under Threat

Madhavankutty Pillai | 28 Oct, 2011

What accusations of plagiarism against Ra.One mean for Bollywood

In India’s entertainment history, Ram Sampath will some day be acknowledged as the man who changed the DNA of Bollywood. He did that by raising the spectre of serious losses for filmmakers who stole ideas. This Sampath did by strategically filing a court case against Rakesh Roshan just days before Krazzy4 was to be released, and then demanding—and getting—Rs 2 crore for not insisting on a stay on the release. Roshan had lifted a tune composed by Sampath.

Last week, Yash Patnaik, in a copycat tactic, did the same thing to Shah Rukh Khan. He was not as successful as Sampath but he still achieved something. The Bombay High Court asked the makers of Ra.One to deposit Rs 1 crore till it decided whether Ra.One’s story was stolen from Patnaik. It found prima facie merit in Patnaik’s claim. His supervillain had even been named One. So whoever stole the idea was in fact lazy enough to do it with not too much subtlety.

You could debate why Bollywood steals so much and so often, but what is obvious given its history is that it detests originality. This could be because large sums of money are riding on a project and anything unknown is by definition untested, and, therefore, to be kept at an arm’s length. Or it could be the simpler explanation that it is easier to steal than to pay. A scriptwriter, who should probably be the most important creative person in a unit after the director, is probably paid as much as an established lyricist gets for one 16-line song in the same movie. And a fraction of what a music director might be paid.

Earlier, it was impossible to do anything when an idea was stolen because the aggrieved party was some poor struggling survivor. Sampath changed that. He showed that it was possible to hit them where it hurts. And instead of being ostracised, he returned to become a success in Bollywood with the music of Delhi Belly. Yash Patnaik, an unknown TV producer, suing Khan and almost getting the film delayed is yet another shock to the system. The court was generous enough to let the film’s release go on as planned, and now, Patnaik probably won’t get anything—with no looming crisis, lawyers will work their magic. Even so, the idea that stealing an idea is theft with consequences has now become a little more firmly entrenched.