Time & again Bollywood feels the need to be “inspired”. Sometimes it’s from real events, sometimes people & sometimes straight out of another movies or TV shows.
There are too many examples but we don’t have to look much far for it. One of the latest movies that did well at the box-office despite the knife of demonetization hanging at its head is, Dear Zindagi. While the movie has done well at the box-office & received critical acclaim too, everyone involved with the movie is dealing with an “Inspiration” hiccup at the moment. A recent report in DNA, suggested that Dharma Productions may have been served with a legal notice for copyright infringement from Temple Street Productions claiming that the film is a deconstructed replica of their Canadian comedy-drama, Being Erica.
On one hand you have sources stating that there are undeniable similarities between the film & the Tv show, while on the other Director Gauri Shinde maintained that her script indeed is original.
An insider at Dharma Productions was quoted saying “Karan and the Dharma CEO, Apoorva Mehta were not aware that this was inspired in such detail from the Canadian show. Meanwhile, Gauri maintains her script is original, but the similarities are too glaring to go unnoticed.”
But when Apoorva Mehta, CEO of dharma productions was asked for a comment, denied the reports clarifying, “It’s not true… we haven’t received anything at all.”
Talking about the show in question, it does have the basic premise of a therapist & a young girl with problems unsolved & issues unresolved just like Dear Zindagi, it does involve rather dramatic elements like time travel. But, as they say there never is smoke without fire, Dear Zindagi might just turn out to be another rip-off. It’s a shame we all fell in love with Jug a little, didn’t we? *Long Deep Sigh
