Dus Kahaaniyan faces flak for plagiarism

COPYCAT? The film is rumoured to be copied from a Oscar winning short film The Lunch Date.

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Mumbai: Bollywood films are often ‘inspired’ by hit Hollywood films as it just seems like a safe bet and an easy task for the filmmakers to make such films.

And one story that is making all the noise in Dus Kahaaniyaan is the film directed by Rohit Roy titled Rice Plate.

It is a film to watch out for with its casting coup of Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah sharing screen space after two decades.

But it is also the film that is rumoured to be copied from the 1989 Oscar winning short film The Lunch Date.

Adam Davidson's film is set in a cafe, where a white woman leaves her table to find on her return, an African American at her table.

The woman then shares her lunch with him, only to realise later that her own food was on another table, and she was actually eating the other man's food.

The story of Rice Plate is on similar lines. Shabana plays a south Indian Hindu woman while Naseer plays a Muslim man.

But the Dus Kahaaniyaan team deny any connection between the two films.

"Even if we are doing as daring and original as Dus Kahaaniyaan, they still have to come up with these stories. It is sad," says producer, Sanjay Gupta.

'The same stories go around and come around. I could give you a DVD and ask you to make the film. Will you be able to make it the same way that I can or somebody else can make it? Takes will always be different. But honestly, I had no idea that a film called the The Lunch Date existed. There should be no comparison between my film and that film because no body has seen my film," says Rohit Roy.

As the lead actress, Shabana Azmi says her decision to act in the film would not have changed even if she had known that the film was adapted.

"Not at all. Even of I know that it is based on something like that then it has been so completely Idianised. Within this context, I understand that it would have made any difference,” says Shabana.

Of course, Indianised or non-Indianised, the fact remains that if it has been adapted from another screenplay, due credit must be given to the original film.

But how similar are the two films will be known only when Dus Kahaaniyaan releases this weekend.

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