IP and Hindi films

So I was on youtube recently, trying to watch a video of a song from the recent Hindi film "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom." I clicked on the link and was told that "this video has been removed due to a claim of copyright violation by Yashraj films Ltd."

Ha.

I find it really ironic (and, admittedly, pretty amusing), that Yashraj and other Bollywood filmmakers would be miffed about copyright violation when most of what they do, day in and day out, is re-package Hollywood storylines for a Bollywood audience (which is a hell of a lot bigger than the Hollywood audience, so can you blame them for wanting to make money?)

"Whaaa-?" You say. "But recently, Hindi films have been great--none of them have copied Hollywood storylines."

I reiterate: ha.

The masala-mix melodramatic storylines of the 80s and 90s may have been terrible (and they really were), but at least they were marginally original--boy meets girl, forbidden love blah blah, they have a few songs, boy beats up the bad guys and claims the girl.

Nowadays the films have run the gamut from top-action (Dhooms 1 & 2, Dus) to well-told love story (Hum Tum), to folksy (Paheli), to fairly good comedy/coming of age (Munna Bhai!)

Of the films I just named, only two were not copies of Hollywood stories: Munna Bhai and Paheli. Although Lage Raho Munna Bhai did seem strangely familiar, and I remember the whole time thinking, this has GOT to be a copy of something.

Dhooms 1 & 2 had elements of Fast & the Furious, M:I2, The Bourne Identity, Ocean's 11. The first half of Dus was a straight-up copy of The Usual Suspects, which was just a travesty 'cause it was such a good movie. I mean, come on guys. Yes, I know Shilpa Shetty walked on a wall and Gulshan Grover made a startling and well-deserved comeback (and then promptly disappeared), but seriously?

Hum Tum is, ironically, one of my favorites. But I can't get over the fact that it is a scene by scene copy of When Harry met Sally, one of my favorite movies of all time. Saad.

I guess this hurts my soul or something, but it annoys me that when I connect with a movie or enjoy it and then realize it's a copy of another movie I've seen and know well, it just makes me annoyed that I paid the money (err...or that I paid like a buck to rent it from the Indian store), to see a movie that's just a shabby copy. Okay, maybe it's a damn good copy but that doesn't matter. I'm just saying, what happened to creativity?

I think mostly, this says nothing about Indian artistic sensibilities etc. I think it's really just about money--it's easier to steal storylines and churn out blockbuster song-and-dance flicks with hotshot Indian actors than to work agonizingly for years on a beautiful screenplay about women's rights or whatever. But the thing is, this behavior can't continue ad infinitum.

As revealed here....

Hollywood movie producers--such as the producers of Hitch--have begun to be aware of the Bollywood industry over the past few years or so. The thing is, there's a price with fame. And when millions of viewers in America and abroad spend more money on Hindi films than Hollywood (I'm just taking a guess here--I have no actual numbers, but I do know that Bollywood is the second-largest movie industry in the world), then Hollywood's going to take an interest in their competitor.

So, yeah, I guess Hindi films are going to have watch it when they make movies "inspired" by their American colleagues. Or, at least, give credit where it's due.

And yes, I know you can make about a million arguments about IP here. Especially considering that one of the few ways in which India might benefit from TRIPS is that they have net outflow of media products--films, music, etc. It's important for them to protect their artistic products in the movie industry...but it's a two-way street.

Meanwhile, I found a copy of "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom" that hadn't been removed by Yashraj. Ironically, the story of JBJ sounds completely original--it's too bad it falls pretty flat. Eh, I guess that's how the cookie crumbles.