As someone who has been running a website that tracks plagiarism in Indian film (predominantly) music, I’m amazed at how Indians (in particular) are so wary of crediting their sources. My site covers music, and hence I find composers going out of their way to either work really hard on reinterpreting the source material or cook up lame excuses about how their creation is completely different from an ‘alleged’ source. The former is the right way to go, provided the 2 basic tenets of cover versions are adhered to – a credit to the source artist and paying the right amount of royalty. The latter, whoever, is unique to Indian composers.
But, the crediting drama in 3 Idiots baffles me.
What were Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Aamir Khan and Raju Hirani thinking?
- That they can completely remove Chetan Bhagat from any sort of credit and let people assume that 3 Idiots is entirely original? The contract that Vidhu has put up in his website says otherwise. So, the trio had some intention of tagging Chetan’s name, somewhere.
- That they can reduce the contribution by Chetan Bhagat in the credit so that the combined contributions of Raju and Abhijat comes to the fore? This seems to be the case, given the credit to Chetan rolls towards the end of the closing credits.
Why are Indian film makers/ composers so insecure? We’re talking of a supposed thinking actor like Aamir and the man who directed Munnabhai series. Munna is about imagining the odd, inventive way out of seemingly tough situations, even if they do not seem to be practical in real life. Heck, Hirani cooked up that brilliantly conceived scene where a elderly pensioner, tired of the bribes, strips off his humble clothing solely to embarrass the bribe-seeking official.
Why couldn’t he have cooked up a bold, inventive opening credit to Chetan, ‘Thanks to Chetan Bhagat, for inspiring us the 3 Idiots story’? Think about it – what does it say? To me, personally, it says,
- The film makers are upfront, honest and confident enough about their script to credit the source
- That the film makers want you to take a conscious note of the fact that 3 Idiots is, at its core, inspired by something else – in this case, Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone. It simply means, if Chetan bookâ??s was not in existence, 3 Idiots wouldnâ??t have happened â?? isnâ??t that the truth too?
- That the film makers want you to see how different and innovative the script of the film is, compared to what Chtan Bhagat cooked up, for a novel.
Does this take away any credit from Hirani/ Abhijat? In my opinion, no. On the contrary, if I’m one of those who has both read the book and seen the movie, I’m bound to be impressed with the kind of effort the film’s script has gone through. Film scripting is a different process and is a very different medium, compared to a book.
If the makers of ‘Hello’ had used Chetan Bhagat’s name actively it is because they sought that kind of pre-release publicity. That it was a shoddy film is a different topic of discussion, but with 3 Idiots we’ve 3 of the best brains in Bollywood.
So, do we assume that the mighty combination of Vidhu-Aamir-Hirani were scared that one lone writer, however popular, will overshadow their efforts? How is that even possible? But that’s the image this trio gives out, with all the brouhaha now.
And to think Vidhu had actually done the second most important part of the crediting bargain – pay the source. He has a contract with Chetan (whatever the amount – that’s immaterial after the contract has been drawn and mutually agreed upon – had there been no contract, the issue takes a very different turn) for paying him a certain sum in return of using his book for certain contractually agreed ways. That contract is confidential and can be made public by any party â?? here, Vidhu chose to make it public (PDF file link).
So, why not make it public in the opening credit of the film and send people the message loud and clear, ‘Hey people, this film is based on Chetan’s book. But look how well we’ve adapted the book for the film medium!’. That claim may sound hollow if it was from Atul Agnihotri, who directed Hello – but, from a trio of Vidhu-Aamir-Hirani’s stature, it is a really confident and bold claim. A claim that people are bound to buy immediately.
Itâ??s a bizarre and unfortunate misstep that this trio assumed that people may not make the connection between the film and its really popular source. Or, to be precise, the trio arrogantly assumed that they are big enough to let people think that the film is not based on the book.