Purely coincidental!

Usually, filmmakers use the disclaimer, either in the beginning or in the end saying that, “The events, characters and firms depicted in the photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental” or something similar to it. It is done with a purpose to avoid legal actions over possible similarities and so on. The work of art is always an outcome of an inspiration and at times, it can lead to plagiarism. The recent controversy to hit Sandalwood is purely coincidental too! With big pictures getting ready to hit the screens, movie posters are prepared in order to provide a glimpse of what the audience can expect from the movie. From hand painted posters to digital avatars, cinema posters have come a long way. Several such posters from across various languages including Hindi movies have been accused of being the ‘copy’ of another poster. Be it PK, Rowdy Rathod and umpteen numbers. Lately, the posters of two Kannada movies — Avane Sriman Narayana and Roberrt have become the ‘soft’ targets. Bengaluru Chronicle reports.

“Not just posters, a section of the filmmakers, who claim their works as original have apparently drawn inspiration from Korean and other lesser known foreign language movies. Some of them have copied it straight. One can understand if there are a couple of scenes or anything else which are similar to another’s works but when the whole product is copied, it is very disheartening,” says director Santhosh.

As for the latest controversy, it kickstarted when director Tharun Sudhir while appreciating the newly released poster of Avane Sriman Narayana, as a ‘’Phata poster Nikla hero’ comment. It paved the way for huge criticism as many misunderstood  his remarks as a dig , referring to the the poster of Hindi movie with the same title.

However, the issue came to an end when the producer of the movie Avane Sriman Narayana, Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah responded by saying, “On so many occasions coincidences and confusions do happen,” That dialogue” was a famous dialouge from Ulidavaru Kandanthe movie, which Tharun Sudhir sir has used to praise the poster. Even we were not aware of the poster design till then.”

Coincidentally, the movie Roberrt directed by Tharun starring Challenging Star Darshan was the first to be dragged into the poster controversy. It is being accused of being inspired by Hollywood star Dwyane Johnson, who had shared a similar photo on his Instagram account much before the release of Roberrt poster release. However, the makers have denied it.

“Several movies in the past are accused of a similar approach. The Villain was accused of being a copy of Hollywood’s Face Off, And even Lucia being similar to an independent filmmaker’s work. It is very easy to identify which one is an inspiration, genuine or simple copied ones,” concludes film critic Subramanian.