Oldboy Makers Plan Vengeance on Zinda Options

[yonsama]

You've read already a few reports on Twitch about the 'Indian Oldboy', Sanjay Gupta's latest film Zinda. And anybody even marginally acquainted with that world knows in Bollywood the words 'homage', 'remake' and 'rip-off' are often interchangeable, good faith or not. The outline - a man facing 14 years of captivity for no known reason, then spending the next four days looking for the culprit - sounds exactly like a certain Oh Dae-Soo's fate, held captive for 15 years, released, and looking for his enemy for the following 5 days.

But it seems some people in Chungmuro are taking it seriously. 올드보이 (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."

Director of the 'Indian Reservoir Dogs' Kaante, Sanjay Gupta is known as one of the most stylish filmmakers in Bollywood, but his latest project might finally get him into trouble for underestimating the often very subtle difference between 'homage' and 'rip-off'.

This post has been edited by yonsama: Nov 16 2005, 04:58 PM

[zenden]

You've read already a few reports on Twitch about the 'Indian Oldboy', Sanjay Gupta's latest film Zinda. And anybody even marginally acquainted with that world knows in Bollywood the words 'homage', 'remake' and 'rip-off' are often interchangeable, good faith or not. The outline - a man facing 14 years of captivity for no known reason, then spending the next four days looking for the culprit - sounds exactly like a certain Oh Dae-Soo's fate, held captive for 15 years, released, and looking for his enemy for the following 5 days.

But it seems some people in Chungmuro are taking it seriously. 올드보이 (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."

Director of the 'Indian Reservoir Dogs' Kaante, Sanjay Gupta is known as one of the most stylish filmmakers in Bollywood, but his latest project might finally get him into trouble for underestimating the often very subtle difference between 'homage' and 'rip-off'.

Yeah korean people should definately nail him , India is all bout ripping stories from hollywood and other cinemas.Now they targeted Korean cinema.

Its shame ,Bollywood is biggest film indusrty,still lacks creativity and if this news is right thn i am more than happy that korean people will take this seriously and nail him.its about time ,Bollywood should realize.

[Tenjikuronin]

Yeah korean people should definately nail him , India is all bout ripping stories from hollywood and other cinemas.Now they targeted Korean cinema.

Its shame ,Bollywood is biggest film indusrty,still lacks creativity and if this news is right thn i am more than happy that korean people will take this seriously and nail him.its about time ,Bollywood should realize.

So you are generalizing an entire country and an entire movie industry based on the actions of ONE director?

"Bollywood" as you term it, has some of the world's most orginial and creative movies ever made. Obviously you have never heard of Lagaan, Kisna, Mangal Pandey, etc. because if you had, you would know exactly how creative Indian Cinema actually is.

Don't try to bad mouth an entire industry based on the cut-rate actions of one director.

[SantaKlaws]

Unless "Show East" plans to capitalize on Oldboy in India, I think it would be wise to just overlook this matter.

[zenden]

Yeah korean people should definately nail him , India is all bout ripping stories from hollywood and other cinemas.Now they targeted Korean cinema.

Its shame ,Bollywood is biggest film indusrty,still lacks creativity and if this news is right thn i am more than happy that korean people will take this seriously and nail him.its about time ,Bollywood should realize.

So you are generalizing an entire country and an entire movie industry based on the actions of ONE director?

"Bollywood" as you term it, has some of the world's most orginial and creative movies ever made. Obviously you have never heard of Lagaan, Kisna, Mangal Pandey, etc. because if you had, you would know exactly how creative Indian Cinema actually is.

Don't try to bad mouth an entire industry based on the cut-rate actions of one director.

Firstly i am a director myself , i know and can feel how it feels to be ripped of.

Secondaly Indian film is the biggest industry and if it CAN make few originals , its minority, take out average of all the films that have been made in recent 4 years.Let me do your homework.

Here indian major ripoffs

Zeher=Our of time

Raaz=What lies Beneath

Chocalate= Usual suspects

Murder=Unfaithful (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif) 2

Jism=Body Heat

Kaante=Reservior Dogs

Musafir= U-turn (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Ek Ajnabee=Man on Fire

There are others i forgot the names but Liar n Liar, Grudge are also ripped.

the problem is that they rip off each shot, oh yeah i forgot there was one movie called Khamosh ripoff of Identity.......... total rip.

Kisna is crap its not box office hit.
Mangal pandey and Lagaan are made by ammir khan thats why they are original ,
Ammir khan is one of the few original actor/producer left but such are minority i am talking about majority.

indian public dont have awareness and they treat all films original.The funniest part is most of the ripped of films gets countless awards and become hits.

Murder is huge hit.
Kaante,raaz were too.

Shame or still i am wrong??

[Tenjikuronin]

Firstly i am a director myself , i know and can feel how it feels to be ripped of.

Secondaly Indian film is the biggest industry and if it CAN make few originals , its minority, take out average of all the films that have been made in recent 4 years.Let me do your homework.

Here indian major ripoffs

Zeher=Our of time

Raaz=What lies Beneath

Chocalate= Usual suspects

Murder=Unfaithful (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif) 2

Jism=Body Heat

Kaante=Reservior Dogs

Musafir= U-turn (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Ek Ajnabee=Man on Fire

There are others i forgot the names but Liar n Liar, Grudge are also ripped.

the problem is that they rip off each shot, oh yeah i forgot there was one movie called Khamosh ripoff of Identity.......... total rip.

Kisna is crap its not box office hit.
Mangal pandey and Lagaan are made by ammir khan thats why they are original ,
Ammir khan is one of the few original actor/producer left but such are minority i am talking about majority. 

indian public dont have awareness and they treat all films original.The funniest part is most of the ripped of films gets countless awards and become hits.

Murder is huge hit.
Kaante,raaz were too.

Shame or still i am wrong??

Those are only a few movies. There are thousands of movies released every year, and not all of them come out of Mumbai. I noticed that all of the proposed ripoffs that you mentioned all come from "Bollywood" studios. Not one movie you mentioned has come from Tamil Nadu, or even Kolkata.

But even in Mumbai's movie studios, there have been countless original movies produced, many of which have become countless hits.

Here are four more:

-- Munnbai MBBS (which Hollywood is going to rip-off soon under the name 'Gangsta MD (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/sure.gif) )

-- Bhagban

-- Paap

-- Bewafaa

And countless others.

The point that I'm trying to make here is that the actions of a few directors don't constitue the entire Indian film Industry and we can't judge the whole industry based on the actions of a few (especially not on the actions of Mumbai producers alone).

[zenden]

Firstly i am a director myself , i know and can feel how it feels to be ripped of.

Secondaly Indian film is the biggest industry and if it CAN make few originals , its minority, take out average of all the films that have been made in recent 4 years.Let me do your homework.

Here indian major ripoffs

Zeher=Our of time

Raaz=What lies Beneath

Chocalate= Usual suspects

Murder=Unfaithful (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif) 2

Jism=Body Heat

Kaante=Reservior Dogs

Musafir= U-turn (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Ek Ajnabee=Man on Fire

There are others i forgot the names but Liar n Liar, Grudge are also ripped.

the problem is that they rip off each shot, oh yeah i forgot there was one movie called Khamosh ripoff of Identity.......... total rip.

Kisna is crap its not box office hit.
Mangal pandey and Lagaan are made by ammir khan thats why they are original ,
Ammir khan is one of the few original actor/producer left but such are minority i am talking about majority. 

indian public dont have awareness and they treat all films original.The funniest part is most of the ripped of films gets countless awards and become hits.

Murder is huge hit.
Kaante,raaz were too.

Shame or still i am wrong??

Those are only a few movies. There are thousands of movies released every year, and not all of them come out of Mumbai. I noticed that all of the proposed ripoffs that you mentioned all come from "Bollywood" studios. Not one movie you mentioned has come from Tamil Nadu, or even Kolkata.

But even in Mumbai's movie studios, there have been countless original movies produced, many of which have become countless hits.

Here are four more:

-- Munnbai MBBS (which Hollywood is going to rip-off soon under the name 'Gangsta MD (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/sure.gif) )

-- Bhagban

-- Paap

-- Bewafaa

And countless others.

The point that I'm trying to make here is that the actions of a few directors don't constitue the entire Indian film Industry and we can't judge the whole industry based on the actions of a few (especially not on the actions of Mumbai producers alone).

Munaabahi isnt ripoff but hugely inspired by Patch Adams, however i admit hell of funny film.

Paap is from Bhat camp,i doubt its original they always copy ,specially Pooja bhatt i will ask her in next film festival (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ,she always come here, but film was flop.
Bewafaa was flop too.(www.indiafm.com)
Baghban was hit , but thats only one you mentioned.

Most of what you/people call original arent original , because people arent aware of
originals.You can ask your indian buddies if they have watched Oldboy ,how many of them?? Due to unawareness all Indian public would take Zinda as original, however its not.If they have big cinemas thn why not get rights of original film and show there.

Tamil industry doesnt represent India that much , not as commercial,sure India is big but they arent considered in mainstream Awards cremonies like filmfare,screen,Lux etc.
Moreover Tamil hasnt overseas market in UK,US like Bollywood main ones with Khans and stuff.

I dont also blame every director, but i fail to find any creativity in recent 4 years.
Here and there ,few films which are totally original and groundbreaking .
There are good films like PAGE3 and Ab tuk 56, but when big directors rip off foreign films and get profit from them , ripping every scene and call themsleves directors/makers , this very act attracts other makers and follow same lead i.e copying ,and in this way whole indian industry is being corrupted.They cry for piracy and stuff , but what about pirating the whole story ...shot by shot (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/thumbsdown.gif) .

[Tenjikuronin]

Munaabahi isnt ripoff but hugely inspired by Patch Adams, however i admit hell of funny film.

Paap is from Bhat camp,i doubt its original they always copy ,specially Pooja bhatt i will ask her in next film festival (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ,she always come here, but film was  flop.
Bewafaa was flop too.(www.indiafm.com)
Baghban was hit , but thats only one you mentioned.

Most of what you/people call original arent original , because people arent aware of
originals.You can ask your indian buddies if they have watched Oldboy ,how many of them?? Due to unawareness all Indian public would take Zinda as original, however its not.If they have big cinemas thn why not get rights of original film and show there.

Tamil industry doesnt represent India that much , not as commercial,sure India is big but they arent considered in mainstream Awards cremonies like filmfare,screen,Lux etc.
Moreover Tamil hasnt overseas market in UK,US like Bollywood main ones with Khans and stuff.

I dont also blame every director, but i fail to find any creativity in recent 4 years.
Here and there ,few films which are totally original and groundbreaking .
There are good films like PAGE3 and Ab tuk 56, but when big directors rip off foreign films and get profit from them , ripping every scene and call themsleves directors/makers , this very act attracts other makers and  follow same lead i.e copying ,and in this way whole indian industry is being corrupted.They cry for piracy and stuff , but what about pirating the whole story ...shot by shot (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/thumbsdown.gif) .

I am aware of the similarities between Patch Adams and MunnaBhai MBBS, but if I remember correctly, Munna Bhai was an actual Indian doctor (the same way Patch Adams is an actual doctor operating out of Seattle). Perhaps MunnaBhai's directors may have been encouraged to make the movie on the doctor after seeing the sucess of Patch Adams, that's always possible.

A lot of Mahesh Bhatt's movies are based on his own life and even on the lives of other "Bollywood" people. I know that Mahesh Bhatt was born to a Muslim and Hindu couple, and the ramifications to that marriage were chronicled in one of his movies (whose name I have forgotten). BUT, having said that, yes he and his daughter have been known to rip-off ideas-- even from fellow Indian directors. I met him once on the shooting of the movie 'Duplicate' and he seemed kind of over-confident (like he was some sort of hotshot who could do anything he pleased).

While I admit the Indian film industry isn't filled with angels, and I don't doubt that ideas are ripped off by unscrupolous directors, I think for the most part Indian Films are quite original.

Also, I had never heard of 'Oldboy' before I read this article. I asked my close friends and neither of them had heard of it either (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_sad.gif) . You are correct in assuming that if we watched Zinda, we would cosider it original (even though its not). Korean Films aren't very popular in India, and I think that's one reason why many people wouldn't know if they were watching something that was previously done. The problem with showing the original film (Oldboy) is that it probably would be harder for Indian audiences to swallow.....since non-Bollywood/non-Hollywood/non-English? movies usually don't pick up much interest or revenue. Of course I oculd be wrong (I most likely am), but I doubt the average Indian person would go to see a Korean movie unless it had some sort of international hype (like the HK Film "The Myth" starring Jackie Chan -- which received enormous media coverag in Indian tabloids).

[zenden]

Munaabahi isnt ripoff but hugely inspired by Patch Adams, however i admit hell of funny film.

Paap is from Bhat camp,i doubt its original they always copy ,specially Pooja bhatt i will ask her in next film festival (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ,she always come here, but film was  flop.
Bewafaa was flop too.(www.indiafm.com)
Baghban was hit , but thats only one you mentioned.

Most of what you/people call original arent original , because people arent aware of
originals.You can ask your indian buddies if they have watched Oldboy ,how many of them?? Due to unawareness all Indian public would take Zinda as original, however its not.If they have big cinemas thn why not get rights of original film and show there.

Tamil industry doesnt represent India that much , not as commercial,sure India is big but they arent considered in mainstream Awards cremonies like filmfare,screen,Lux etc.
Moreover Tamil hasnt overseas market in UK,US like Bollywood main ones with Khans and stuff.

I dont also blame every director, but i fail to find any creativity in recent 4 years.
Here and there ,few films which are totally original and groundbreaking .
There are good films like PAGE3 and Ab tuk 56, but when big directors rip off foreign films and get profit from them , ripping every scene and call themsleves directors/makers , this very act attracts other makers and  follow same lead i.e copying ,and in this way whole indian industry is being corrupted.They cry for piracy and stuff , but what about pirating the whole story ...shot by shot (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/thumbsdown.gif) .

I am aware of the similarities between Patch Adams and MunnaBhai MBBS, but if I remember correctly, Munna Bhai was an actual Indian doctor (the same way Patch Adams is an actual doctor operating out of Seattle). Perhaps MunnaBhai's directors may have been encouraged to make the movie on the doctor after seeing the sucess of Patch Adams, that's always possible.

A lot of Mahesh Bhatt's movies are based on his own life and even on the lives of other "Bollywood" people. I know that Mahesh Bhatt was born to a Muslim and Hindu couple, and the ramifications to that marriage were chronicled in one of his movies (whose name I have forgotten). BUT, having said that, yes he and his daughter have been known to rip-off ideas-- even from fellow Indian directors. I met him once on the shooting of the movie 'Duplicate' and he seemed kind of over-confident (like he was some sort of hotshot who could do anything he pleased).

While I admit the Indian film industry isn't filled with angels, and I don't doubt that ideas are ripped off by unscrupolous directors, I think for the most part Indian Films are quite original.

Also, I had never heard of 'Oldboy' before I read this article. I asked my close friends and neither of them had heard of it either (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_sad.gif) . You are correct in assuming that if we watched Zinda, we would cosider it original (even though its not). Korean Films aren't very popular in India, and I think that's one reason why many people wouldn't know if they were watching something that was previously done. The problem with showing the original film (Oldboy) is that it probably would be harder for Indian audiences to swallow.....since non-Bollywood/non-Hollywood/non-English? movies usually don't pick up much interest or revenue. Of course I oculd be wrong (I most likely am), but I doubt the average Indian person would go to see a Korean movie unless it had some sort of international hype (like the HK Film "The Myth" starring Jackie Chan -- which received enormous media coverag in Indian tabloids).

Zakhm was the film that he made on his life, one of my favourite films and yes only original from Mahesh i guess.But again it was 4 years back, i am blaming atitude of directors nowadays , as i said in my previous posts SINCE 4 YEARS.

Moreover , Duplicate had scene Directly ripped from Desperado, amongst others.

On your Awareness part , as i said that if Bollywood is so concerned about Piracy acts ,illegal copies they should also not be copying ideas of other foreign films without legal steps, that also called piracy ,even bigger.

India is big ,so is her film industry , making big industry in quantity doesnt count much , go for creativity and originality i.e quality and show multi-cultural films there so that they can grow up and mature in cinema viewing and its boundaries , other wise they all will remain to experience same old dancing ,love stories and Sharukhkhan.

Anyways , debate is useless , what i want is that Korean authorities if posible should nail Sunjay gupta , so that direct ripping could be prohibited later.
Its bigger than pirating films(which indian industry usually moans about) , but they dont feel anything when they copy films on such larger scale without taking permission of any sort.

[heavymetalsamura...]

who cares, they'll always be a step behind that way, lets see them remake this

http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004047.html

[zenden]

who cares, they'll always be a step behind that way, lets see them remake this

http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004047.html

Man India dont remake they rape the films.If Tycoon is something they cant make, they will make it even thn and will ruin it like anything.

[The Lateman]

to be blunt, no one could make a better remake or somethign that even comes close to old boy. not any hollywood producer nor bollywood
bollywood might make it quite unique though