Bollywood’s long-standing reputation for creative “inspiration” is under fire again, with three high-profile cases surfacing in just days. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s recent statement that “Bollywood is full of thieves” now seems prophetic.
First, the Housefull 5 teaser was removed from YouTube after an Instagram dancer accused the producers of copying his dance moves and a YouTube channel, Mo Fusion, claimed the music was also stolen.
Despite having a star-studded cast-Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan and others-the teaser of the film got a copyright strike. Big budget films are not safe from small scale plagiarism.
The controversy doesn’t end there. AR Rahman was allegedly fined ₹2 crore by the Delhi High Court for copying the tune of “Veera Raja Veera” from Ponniyin Selvan and allegedly copying it from Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar’s father’s composition. The court rejected his appeal and sent shockwaves in the music industry.
In the OTT space, Amazon Prime’s Gram Chikitsalay is caught in a script theft controversy. Kolkata author Anindya Vikas Datta alleged his script was stolen after he shared it with actor Vinay Pathak who is now playing a role he had earlier appreciated and rejected.
These cases highlight a bigger issue: from music to screenplays, plagiarism is Bollywood’s dirty little secret, killing creativity and faith. With stars in the fray and legal suits piling up, the industry’s “chori” issue can’t be ignored.
