Copycats: Bollywood pays tribute to Hollywood

Bollywood has always looked to the West for inspiration. It is not new. Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini's 'Satte Pe Satta' largely resembled 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'; 'Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai' had a lot in common with Julia Roberts' film 'My Best Friend's Wedding'; Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala took 'Akele Hum Akele Tum' to a level quite different from 'Kramer vs. Kramer'; Ghulam's 'Aati Kya Khandala' song wouldn't have been penned or crooned if not for Marlon Brando starrer 'On the Waterfront', to name just a few.

However, nowadays, Bollywood films not only take inspiration from their peers in the West for the storyline, they lift entire scenes from their films. Here are a few examples to explain the concept of aping openly... in detail.

Ajay Devgn starrer Singham had amazing action scenes that used the actor's sculpted body in the power-packed movie. However, though Singham's body was an original, the action sequence was not. It was, to say it politely, a tribute to Hollywood film 'Red' as well as Bruce Willis. Doesn't say much for Rohit Shetty's imagination as a director.

Akshay Kumar is one actor who has never relegated his action scenes to a body-double. He has suffered numerous injuries during his career as a direct result of his principle. His fans would wish that he had declined to do this sequence in Awaara Pagaal Deewana. The director decided to shoot the now famous Matrix action sequence but, managed to distort it and at best it can be called a spoof.

No one will ever understand or know what led a director like Anurag Basu to copy scenes from a variety of Hollywood movies in his latest film Barfi! Though Ranbir Kapoor did a really good job on the screen and they kind of fitted into the script, the tage of a 'lifter' has been attached to Basu's name for good for aping scenes from Hollywood movies like Singing in the Rain and Notebook.It is indeed sad that a 'tribute' film has been sent to represent the Indian film industry at the Oscars.

SRK starrer and Farah Khan directed 'Om Shanti Om' has quite a few scenes dedicated to Bollywood award nights. In one spoof, where Akshay Kumar is a nominee for the best actor award, the visuals from a fictitious film shows Kumar fighting three gunmen. The scene has been copied from Kopps, a Swedish film. Farah Khan could surely have done better or wasn't she interested enough in choreographing an action scene from scratch.

The super-hit comedy film Partner, featuring Salman Khan, Govinda and Katrina Kaif has a scene copied from a Hollywood film called Hitch. Kevin James suggests Amber Valletta to go by her own instincts rather then relying on other people to make important decisions in life. The director of 'Partner' decided to take inspiration from the film by executing a perfect 'lift'.

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