Bollywood is notorious for taking the term “inspiration” a bit too far to a point where it becomes blatant copying. In earlier days this may have worked since the internet wasn’t a thing then and they could get away with it easily. However, the fact that movie makers still take such liberty is either a sign of them considering the audience to be ignorant or them having zero regards for other’s work.
If at all they do get inspired by a piece of art and want to incorporate it into their own project, by all means, go ahead. But through the proper channels. Give credit where credit is due. The alternative is nothing but stealing.
The reason this topic comes up today is because of the movie poster of Mahesh Bhatt’s latest endeavour Jalebi.
In this changing shifting world where the old stories have collapsed and no new story has yet emerged to replace them comes a story of everlasting love. Here is the #JalebiPoster. @Tweet2Rhea @varunmitra19 @DiganganaS @PushpdeepBhardw pic.twitter.com/arZzQnOKie
— Mahesh Bhatt (@MaheshNBhatt) September 3, 2018
It is said that there is no such thing as bad publicity. If that’s the case, the Jalebi team had the right idea as something about the poster has caught the Internet’s steely gaze.
The fact that the poster is, in fact, an almost exact replica of the historic Korean War Goodbye Kiss photograph.
See the resemblance? This photograph from 1950 is one of the most iconic images related to war.
And it’s not the first time Indian cinema has taken “inspiration” from this photograph. Telugu movie Abbayitho Ammayi featured a similar poster.
Have seen a similar style of poster in one Tollywood movie as well.
Here is a Train and there it is a Bus .
Anyways , All the best for the whole team of #Jalebi pic.twitter.com/ziCnAZRtjB— 🆂🆄🅺🅴🆂🅷 🐦 (@OfficialSukesh) September 3, 2018
Whereas they switched out the train for a bus, Jalebi went for the full deal.
If they thought they could slip this by without anyone noticing, they sure need a better understanding of how the Internet works:
From 1950 to 2018. To be continued…#Jalebi pic.twitter.com/SsriZoFUtR
— Vikas Trivedi (@1vikastrivedi) September 3, 2018
At least lift from slightly less iconic pictures ya, Jalebi pic.twitter.com/LEcnKpQm8L
— Extremely Polite and Understated (@TheRestlessQuil) September 4, 2018
A US soldier is giving
a goodbye kiss Bollywood
to his wife, 1950 pic.twitter.com/r5uNaLUIuB— Naveen Kukreja (@NaveenRKukreja) September 3, 2018
Apart from joining the infamous copycats club, Jalebi also became Desi Internet’s latest favourite meme material:
1. Hawww… Idea and Vodafone, yeh sikhaya maa baap ne?
https://twitter.com/iamrjstark/status/1036608274706006016
2. Imagination vs Reality.
https://twitter.com/Duniya_Nakli/status/1036641080215724032
3. Do not attempt at home, unless you have some major core strength.
https://twitter.com/Crabcountess/status/1036580580274520064
4. Anushka just can’t catch a break, can she?
This is the actual poster. pic.twitter.com/Cejs7iOEaS
— Bahadur 2.0 (@my2bit) September 3, 2018
5. Neither can Radhika Apte apparently.
https://twitter.com/Secret_Saanta/status/1036668916901109761
6. Because Jalebi is bae.
#Jalebi #JalebiPoster
Actor feeding Actress with Jalebi via mouth in a train. Innovative. pic.twitter.com/usNtKmqWk8— Panda Palkova (@itispalkova) September 3, 2018
7. Tea first. Love can wait.
Every engineering student life story!
Bc life nikal gai crush gf karte karte hame to chai se mohobbat ho gai!😋 #Jalebi pic.twitter.com/pOcXmOamGV— 𝑪𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓™ (@WeMindBlowers) September 4, 2018
8. Indian jugaad levels reaching new heights.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnSyYNsAdjr/?tagged=jalebi
Honestly, I think there’s a life lesson to be learnt here:
This poster is a gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it?