Anil Kapoor may be Hollywood-bound post Slumdog Millionaire but his productions seem to be seeking inspiration from the West. And ironically, his latest film's subject is plagiarism!
Anil Kapoor may be Hollywood-bound post Slumdog Millionaire but his productions seem to be seeking inspiration from the West. And ironically, his latest film's subject is plagiarism!
His latest production Shortkut The Con Is On, directed by Neeraj Vora seeks inspiration from the 1999 Eddie Murphy comedy Bowfinger. The tagline,u00a0 The Con Is On, featured prominently in all the posters of Bowfinger.
Shortkut, starring Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao, is said to be a remake of the Malayalam film Udayananu Tharam (2005) that featured south superstar Mohanlal. It was later also made in Tamil as Velli Thirai in 2008 with Prithviraj and Prakash Raj. Both films took on the premise from Bowfinger for its protagonists a director, an actor and a script.
Making changes
Vora however maintains, "It is not a Shortkut to Eddie Murphy's film at all. Those who have seen Bowfinger will not find anything similar in Shortkut."
He informs that Anil has bought the remake rights of Udayananu Tharam. "But I have made a lot of changes as it is set in Bollywood. In fact, Roshan Andrews, who directed the Malayalam film, was initially on board for the Hindi version as well. I joined in much later. I have given Shortkut my perspective as a director. Anees Bazmee has worked on the story and screenplay."
The director feels that this makes Shortkut even different from Udayananu Tharam. "Seeing is believeing," adds Vora. Anil Kapoor who is currently in the US is slated to return on July 10 the day Shortkut releases.
What Udayananu Tharam was about...
Udayabhanu (Mohanlal), a director yearns to write and direct his own movie. Rajappan (Sreenivasan) is his crooked friend and an aspiring actor. As Udayabhanu prepares to shoot his firstmovie based on his script, Rajappan steals his manuscript, and shoots it with himself as the lead, which eventually propels him to stardom. Udhayabhanu soon finds himself faced with a crisis and wants to get even with Rajappan.
While Shortkut is about...
Shekhar (Akshaye Khanna) is an aspiring assistant director, and Chandu (Arshad Warsi), a junior artiste. Chandu manages to get Shekhar's script and is catapulted to stardom. Following this incident, Shekhar plunges into a phase of dejection and looks to get even with Chandu.
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What Bowfinger was about...
This 1999 Hollywood flick directed by Frank Oz is about a down and out producer-director Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) who gets hold of a script to produce. When actor Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) won't give him the time, Bobby decides to shoot the film without Kit's knowledge or consent.
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