Recently i read the book "Vaanavillai Thediyavan" translated by Puviyarasu, published by Kannadasan Pathippagam, Puplished on 1995. Very intresting story written by James Hotley Chase. while reading the story i thought , i read the same in some where else. finalay i finded out the same story written by aritters "Suba" in one of the their Pocket naval, title is "Indiya Ragasiyam" on later 90's. In above both the stories are same outline, inline, middleline, sideline and etc. lines. i realy shocked the popular writters copied fullstory from english. and also the tamil translated book also copyrighted. how...................? why...............? only these writters or more like this?............ after this i thought i wont read any 'Suba' stories.
Ah..these are quite common. Manirathinam, who is considered to be one of the best directors in Industry got inspired (this is the word used for 'copy' in India) only by Hollywood movies. Only recently I happened to see Godfather. My god Nayagan is a frame by frame copy of many scenes from Godfather.
ithellam inga sagacham sir. namma makkalum kathaikku enga povanga?
> Nayagan is a frame by frame copy of many scenes from Godfather. > > frame by frame copy na agni natchatram hospital scene is a lift from godfather.
even kalki was accused of lifting his stories from europe. the accusations came from none lesser than puthumai pithan. infact puthumai pithan and 2 other writers used to wait for kalki to come out with a fresh story and then pounce on him with such accusations. venketesh
The funniest part of the Nayagan issue is apart from acting the part of Marlon Brando in many identical ways, Kamal even wanted (and succeeded) to send Nayagan to the Oscars! Manirathnam has gone on to become a good director. I suppose its all practicing the craft!
Speaking of Nayagan and Godfather reminded me of the original - the portrayal by Al Paccino and Marlon Brando are exceptional. They are so vivid in my mind even after so many years. When i watched Nayagan in the theater when it was released, I was really bored and couldnt believe that people didnt know that it was more or less a straight lift of the English film.
For those who havent seen this movie - Scent of a woman - another exceptional performance by Al Pacino.
Nayagan is not a frame by frame copy of God Father...but there are some semblances of God Father like Don's son die of Car accident, and Kamal's mannerisms at times...
PS: It was choosen as one of the best 100 movies ever made by TIME magazine. If it is a copy of God Father it would have never happened..
Nayagan's some scenes resembles "Once upon time in America."..
A clarification for Nayagan. Maniratnam used the word Adaptation rather than inspired. Even in the Times magazine, where Nayagan was the only indian movie in the top 100, it is stated as Adaptation of God Father. There are many who copied and have claimed to be inspired, don't include Manirathnam in that list. He is real brillant.
Dear All I agree with Vijay Nayagan wasnt a frameby frame copy...it was inspired....having read GF and seen it numerous times I think its not a copy...
Has anyone seen Sarkar which is stated as many films were inspired by GF this is a tribute to it....and thats more like GF including the Cop in cahoots with the Turk but an excellent performance from AB and AB
btw...Manirathnams first movie in Tamil got this review from AnandaVikatan...Ivarellam padam edukalainnu yaar azhuthathu...The movie is not famous for Manirathnam but Ilayaraja....Yes the Movie is Idayakoil....then happened Mounaragam and rest is history
hi; talking about inspirations and copycats..there have been numerous discussions in this group about our dear dear PS being "inspired" by Dumas' Three Musketeers. the first scene, the letter being carried by the hero, his sweetheart being of royal blood, an incredibly beautiful but equally dangerous lady villain, the hero gets smitten by the the same, in both PS (Karikalan's murder) and 3M (Fleur De Lis) the lady villain has an horrible past, in both these cases Nandini and Milady are affected by a main character in the story etc,etc,etc.. Yevalavo irukku!!
If Nayagan is a copy then PS is also a copy! If people feel bored by Nayagan then so should they with PS. If we are accusing the normal tamil/hindi film goer of not knowing the difference between an old high end English movie and a Kamal hassan starrer then the same accusation stands true here!!
All writers/script writers need inspirations from something. By being inspired by such incredible works they accept the superiority of the other. There is nothing wrong as long as they accept thier story has been inspired. Mani Ratnam and Kamal hassan accepted theirs was inspired..never did deny that.
Godfather is a great piece of art..Nayagan is a good piece
Times Magazine chose this as one of the top 10 movies of all time?! This is news..i dint know this!!
Rahul three musketeers as a book itself is a copy. there was a published book on the same story in a french library. it was borrowed by one Mr. dumas who has still failed to return it. The book was borrowed from the Marseille public library, and the card-index remains to this day; Dumas kept the book when he went back to Paris.
the line is very thin between plagarism and creativity.
for instance " the life of PI" which won the man booker award last year was a copy of another novel published. when asked about it the award winning writer yann martel had the audacity to say " just because a story was handled earlier by a mediocre mind , it doesnt mean a better writer should not use it.
I feel there is nothing wrong in writing or directing inspired pieces as long as they accept that it has been inspired. Infact all graert works in architecture,engineering, art have been inspired by one thing or the other. Sometimes nature lends a helping hand as in the the acse of the Eiffel Tower whose comlex framework was inspired by the complex honeycomb of the human bone!! The glorious arches in all our muslim tombs, hindu temples, christian churches have been inspred by the most humblest of nature's marvels...the egg!! Dumas,Kalki,Coppola,Mani ratnam are all great minds and should be respected for what they have done rather than nit-picking thier works.
Remember, Kalki has bought the glory of the Chola empire to door steps of the common man. Without Kalki the glory of the Chola empire would have remained in within the confines of the incredibly boring factual history books of bearded historians. He made an entire generation of tamils aware of their past glory.
incredibly boring factual history > books of bearded historians.
dear rahul
I had the good fortune ( thanks to sps sir) of hosting two of them last evening - two legends, greats in their own right....Dr. Nagaswamy and Munaivar Kudavoil Balu sirs. i dont think you can term their life's essense boring - to the uninitiated yes, and to that extent i give credit to kalki - for initiating the masses ( including me, however without their yeoman service ( many times thankless) the novel would have just been fiction and am afraid it would have lost it charm without the delicate interwining of fact with fiction. imagine the innumerable hours of back breaking work not just in unearthing the inscriptions but painstaking work in deciphering them. mr balu sir, shared just four pages of his recent work with me, will seek his permission before discussing more on it, but the depth and passion in that article left me speechless, spellbound, sleepless ....no words,wealth can do justice to their noble deeds.
Even when the movie Nayagan was released (I was in 7th then) I heard that its a copy (adaption?) of God Father and I have heard a lot about God Father. I seldom watch movies. Even God father, I got a chance to watch it when I was alone in Norway, not knowing what to do. :)
ah...ithu koncham over. Thalapathi is Karnan story..the whole world knows. Even before the movie was released, Ananda Vikandan came out with the story saying its from Mahabaratha... so I am not that dumb SPS :)
i loved mario puzo, i liked watching god father after reading the novel - like nayagan also - not sure if the average tamil movie goer would sit though god father though. in that way the film justified its draw.
However, saying that - kamal is a versatile actor - but in nayagan - the greezed tightly combed hair, the protruding jaw line and the dialogue delviery were straight picks from brando.
I never said Nayagan is a frame by frame copy. I only said some scenes from Nayagan are frame by frame copy.
- An influential person pleading to Godfather to do justice with the people who spoiled his daughters life. - the enemies being killed at the backdrop of Mike's newphews baptism. even the gun shot through the eye....shooting a person who is sleeping with a female....
ithellam copy illama vera enna sir... ellathukkum mela..lighting....Now I know why Manirathnam's movie need a torch light to watch. Even the dialogues...it suited for the characters of God father. but all movies having husky voice, which is hardly audible..irritating dialogues...oh..give me a break. oru padathula copy adikallam, atheye ella padathulayum panna its irritating.
While watching movies, the environment should be proeprly lit, otherwise you will get a headache due to the darkness in the movie, and the volume should be in Max otherwise you will never hear anything.
Yes Rahul. This makes sense. Accepting that it is inspired...makes a lot of difference and Kamal or Mani rathnam should be respected for that. As you said, Kalki brought Chola's to the doorstep of every tamil. Mani rathnam and Kamal has taken Tamil movies to great hights, for which they should be respected.
I started the thread only to note that copy/inspiration is not new and it has been happening for ages.
Only thing which irks me about Manirathnam is the darkness and difficulty in hearing his dialogues :) Once it will be novelty..repeated...its irritating.
way back i was interacting with a movie producer who said he gave a video of a english movie called DAVE to shanker and suggested they do a movie based on that subject. but then shanker said lets do a youthful movie now and thus was born jeans. a couple of years later shanker used the same story of dave( mayor for day concept) for Indian. the producer was so angry as if it was his story that had been stolen
-Hi a man got out of the theatre during interval in the movie IRUVAR. when asked whether he didnt like the movie he said" i loved it in fact but was afraid to sit alone in the theatre"
true iruvar was a well made movie. but mass opinion went against it.
Inspiration / copied You can actually see the difference. Ilayaraja - My favorite composed music for the song Kann Malargalin Azhaipidhazh ... Which is an inspiration of Money Money Money (ABBA) Thats inspiration. Talking tangentially - Do visit the below mentioned site to see the difference between inspiration and copy - In Tamil Music
Coming back to the main discussion -- Doing some tinkering work here and there (Read: Adding deleting a few characters here and there) on a full fledged original story and presenting them is NOT inspiration. For example P.Vasu still says that Chandramukhi is an inspiration from "Manichitra Taazhu", which I don't agree. Split personality is the theme and he has added few charecters here and there (Vijayakumar / Nayan Thara / Vadivelu / his wife charecters are not there in the Malayalam original) But you cant claim that its an inspiration
Manirathnam got inspired by the short story of Sujatha and directed a full fledged movie called "Kannathil Muthamittal" The story appears in the Sujatha Sirukadhai Toguppu, Real signs of me getting old, I am unable to remember the name of the story. The story is something like this - A Tamil rebel - a suicide bomber, killing the army official. The kid of an Indian writer has a small chat with him minutes before he does this act.This is inspiration.
Real life inspirations are different. Iruvar is one good example, it happened in real life and it has been modified and made into a film. Acceptable! Infact Nayagan is a mixure of God Father and real life story of Vardha Bhai (Varadharaja Mudaliyar) the first don of Bombay Kamal adapted some mannerisms of Marlon Brando ... Like scratching his head and then adjusting his hair and also the voice modulation and all resembled God father.
Cant blame the Tamil story tellers also. oru oorla oru yezhai paiyyan oru panakaara ponnu avangalukku nadula kadhal OR Parambara parambaraya Kudumba Sandai and there is a love between the boy from one family and girl from other family. In fact thats the reason why people like Kamal / Mani Ratnam started writing stories. Again its not my imagination, Kamal himself disclosed this one interview. With all respects to the success rate of director Shankar -- He is having only one story -- Larger than life charecter come out to save / do good to the society Gentleman / Indian / Mudhalvan / Anniyan / Shivaji ... The way he tells the story is good ... I need not say that the success of the above mentioned movies say that
Well first thing in the morning I am typing such a long mail and my manager is looking from his place for quite sometime now. ... Will join at a later stage ... Have a great day guys!
One sunny day, we went to Gangai Konda choza puram, and friend of mine asked me something about cholas..I have told him a lot regarding cholas..In the midst of narrating, i realized what i was telling is actually extracted from PS by Mr.Kalki.
Then only i realized, PS was so close to our heart that we just keep thinking whatever told in the story is true...A great acheivement indeed by Mr.Kalki.
hi mr.sps; Varadharaja Mudhaliar is full name of the gentleman you are referring to. It is his story being narrated in Nayagan. Only the lead role is inspired by Brando's Corleone. My mother was born and brought up in Bombay during Varadharaj Mudhaliar's heyday.
Other than a few scenes and Kamal's potrayal there is virtually nothing in Nayagan similar to Godfather.
only when he said " you cant negotiate with this man" then the man's death warrant is finalised. bobby's death scene is somewhat common to nayagan also. of course the copy continues.
the split personality of anniyan including the last scene is from sheldon( poor guys has been copied more than anybody else) makkal en pakkam by sathyaraj is also from sheldon.
recently varalaru has a lot of copying from the third twin by follet.
songs you dont have to ask. our directors copy left right and centre. the limit was vettaiyaadu vilaiyaadu " paarththa muthal naalE" is a copy from " yesu piranthaarE"
deva used to copy from his own previous songs. recently i was told that g.v. prakash did the same thing.
The Nayagan posts unexpectedly sparkled some intense discussions
Just thought I'll point out that Manirathnam and Kamal are 2 of my favorite Indian film makers and I eagerly look forward to each of their movies. Both have grown in stature tremendously since Nayagan. I suppose Kamal was already huge in every way at the time of Nayagan. Kamal's Hey Ram is one of my favorite films and Virumandi is a film I really like for the way it was scripted and directed. I even like the box office flop Mumbai Express very much
However, I would never compare Nayagan and PS. PS is an epic in every way where as Nayagan is just another movie although a lot better than most made during its time.
Think of it this way-if for instance, Tamil films were to be screened for international merit, I would surely choose movies like Thevar Magan, Virumandi, Autograph, Thavamai Thavamirundhu and such like (movies with more originality and character) than a movie inspired by a very popular other language film. It would hurt me if some one immediately pointed out that this made from that movie.
My displeasure is more in thinking that an actor of Kamal's caliber could have brought out his own mannerism into that character (specially if was written around the Mumbai Don) instead of trying to imitate Brando.
On a lighter note, I dont mind it if they get inspired from English films or songs but I really hate it when anything Hindi is copied into Tamil. I think I will never like G.V Prakash for copying that song (or getting inspired ) from the old Hindi song.
Ah, talking of Kuruthipunal, that is again a remake (not inspired) of the hindi film Drokal. But in this case, I feel Kuruthipunal is a better film than the Hindi version with stronger characters, acting and better technical aspects. Kamal has essayed that role very well. The others have performed superbly as well. They have their own distinctive portrayals more than the original film.
Its unfortunate that Kamal could not make a movie out of PS. He could have played Vandiyathevan well some 20 years back. Hey thats going back to the time Nayagan was released eh!
Haris Jeyaraj is another music director who can copy huge portions of another song. I was shocked when I heard a song on FM while waiting at a railway reservation. This was an old Hindi song most likely from the 60's and the tune was exactly the same as "oru malai" - Gajini. Recently the song 'June ponaal" is also a lift from the popular current English Hit.
True.. I have seen the Movie and it great work of Manirathnam. In fact i have seen the movie so far around 30 times and still love to see the same . its great team work for Vairamuthu/ Suhasini for dialogues, ARR for Melodius music and Aravindswamy for his excellent playback score and prakashraj and mohanlal for their Splendid action and nasser / rajesh / Aish active paart.
to be frank it is one of the best works of Manirathnam
hi rahul > Other than a few scenes and Kamal's potrayal there is virtually nothing in > Nayagan similar to Godfather.
leaving out kamal's portrayal....there are upteen lifts. apart from those already pointed out...pl read god father - the book. the don as a kid killing a high profile but bad guy and running away to an alien land...a friend of his trying to get him into stealing a carpet...a la janakaraj...
incidentally couple of scenes from the book were already lifted in agni natchatiram....the hospital sequence where they try and save their father is a straight lift.