
Bollywood has seen many controversies but the latest one by Madhur Bhandarkar against Anurag Basu has sparked a lot of debate.
The controversy is around two similar scenes in two of their films: Page 3 (2005) by Bhandarkar and Life In A Metro (2007) by Basu. Both have a scene where Konkona Sen Sharma finds her love interest in a compromising position with another man and raises questions on originality and artistic integrity of filmmaking.
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In an interview on Page 3’s 20th anniversary Bhandarkar said, even the camera angles were same. He narrates a conversation with Sharma, where she told him that Basu wanted to repeat the scene just as it had appeared in Page 3, though she was against it as it was not an original scene.
This revelation has sparked much debate over whether Basu’s choice was an inspired tribute or a direct steal.
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This controversy throws light on the difficulties filmmakers have to face in the quest for originality while being inspired by others’ work.
While some people argue that similarities are bound to occur in such a creative field, others argue that filmmakers must try to present something new with their stories.
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In this precarious balance, one thing is very clear: the line between inspiration and imitation has never been thinner.