Sweet film, bitter claims

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A still from Barfi!

As Anurag Basu’s Barfi! makes the coveted cut to compete for the Golden Lady, a slew of links have gone viral citing examples of how several key moments from the film have been blatantly copied from cinematic creations all over the world. So even as the film crosses the “magical” Rs 100-crore mark worldwide in 10 days, it has spurred a fresh debate on whether or not a film plagued with multiple charges of plagiarism deserves to compete for an international competition of the Oscar calibre.

There are allegations of lifting scenes from Charlie Chaplin classics and The Notebook, among other films.
While some feel the director should be lauded for his unconventional take on the lives of the differently-abled, there are others who feel a film that wears its Western inspirations on its sleeve doesn’t have a Indian heart and therefore is unfit to represent the country.
According to film critic Rajeev Masand, any form of “imitation” and “inspiration” in art is always disappointing. He says, “In the case of Barfi, it appears that several key moments are identical to other films, and that is heartbreaking, given that it is a lovely film. Anurag Basu is an extremely competent filmmaker and many of the ‘inspirations’ are clearly tributes — like the Chaplin moments. But due credit should have been given in all other cases.”
Anurag Basu, on his part, has been clear about the role Chaplin has played in his film. He says, “Why I took scenes from Charlie Chaplin? Because I felt limited by my creativity, I lifted the scene because I couldn’t do better than the genius. I had to take his help to tell my story.”
Salim Ahmed, whose Adaminte Makan Abu was India’s official entry to the Oscars in 2011, in an almost fait accompli tone, says, “Plagiarism happens not only in Bollywood but even in regional cinema. But I believe if you are copying, credit must be given to the source. Even if you’re making a tribute.” Tribute it certainly was in Barfi’s case, admits Anurag. “You always pay homage to geniuses. Besides, these films are in public domain for a reason. You take Devdas and make DevD out of it. That’s not plagiarism. That’s a homage to the original director.”
Director R. Balki takes a more mellow view. Speaking of the parallels between Barfi and Hollywood films such as The Notebook and a few other Charlie Chaplin and Rowan Atkinson classics, Balki says, “See, sometimes it happens out of coincidence, at other times it is intentionally taken when you are not able to progress with a particular scene. As for Barfi, I am not really sure about the plagiarism charges, but I think the concept and story was original.”
Anurag minces no words in hitting out at his detractors. Clearly frustrated at all the talk about scene-by-scene copies, he says, “Barfi has been selected for the Oscars because it was an original story. Do you think the people who are sitting there screening films didn’t know? There were lots of other films that couldn’t make it. Why have none of them made it to the list?”