ZINDA will be shit. Chiefly because its maker, Sanjay Gupta, is a talentless fuckwit and a Rip Off Merchant.

Haven't heard of Zinda? Well I hope you've heard of the simply fantastic Oldboy. Being a Rip Off Merchant is somewhat de rigeur in the world of Bollywood, but Zinda, directed by Rip Off Merchant rchant Sanjay Gupta, looks like it's going to take the cake. Watching the trailers speaks louder than anything I can say.

The trailer for Oldboy

The trailer for Zinda

He's even eating Chinese fried dumplings! I'm not the first to point this out by any means, the Internet has been atwitter on both sides of Asia, as Korean and Indian film fans get a distinct feeling of deja vu. What troubles the DR is the widespread acceptance of this Rip Off Merchant behaviour, which is thoroughly endemic in India. It's condoned. Indian music is frequently lifted bar-for-bar from the West (step forward Anu Malik) and few complain. In a somewhat similar vein to copying from Korea, music is also pilfered from Asia, such as in the soundtrack to Mann which tea-leafed music from Malaysia and the Middle East, or Chocolate which looked as close as Pakistan for 'inspiration'.

Rip Off Merchant Sanjay Gupta of course has a track record. His previous films, Kaante and Musafir were Reservoir Dogs and U-Turn respectively. For some unfathomable reason he is looked upon as one of Bollywood's most stylish directors. Fuck knows why.

Websites and magazines are entirely culpable when it comes to this embarrassing trend of Indian knock-offs. They acknowledge that Sanjay Gupta Rip Off Merchant is a Rip Off Merchant, but end their articles with mindless bullshit like

I have no idea why plagiarism is so roundly welcomed. Indians may bleat on about Truth Hurts and Dr Dre, but that's pissing into a hurricane of intellectual property theft going the other way.

Naachgaana hits the nail on the head:

"I'm totally guessing he's banking that no one in Bollywood has seen the film at all, even though it was the Grand Prix at Cannes not so long ago (oh wait the year Aish was on the jury)."

The only language Indian artists filmmakers understand is money and the only way this trend can be curtailed is when Rip Off Merchants like Sanjay Gupta get sued. AsiaFinest has more:

"Oldboy producers Show East talked with the press today, saying that the only remake rights contract they ever signed was with Universal in the US, and with no one else, including India. The company announced that after looking at the finished product they will make their decision, which might have legal ramifications, if the film is as similar to Park Chan-Wook's hit as it's been claimed.

A PR from Show East announced: "We're looking at the similarities between the two films, but since we don't have a final product we can judge, we'll just have to investigate a little more into what kind of relation the films will have. Since we never experienced something like this, we couldn't really set up a concrete plan. But if we find out there's indeed a strong similarity between the two, it looks like we'll have to talk with our lawyers."

Having said all this, I do wonder what changes he'll make to the film's conclusion. There is no way Bollywood is ready for the Korean twist in the tail. Although...

Permanent link action