“Kajol stuns in a royal blue wrap dress as she posts a boomerang of herself swirling and pouting.”
This is a Republic World report about the success party of a film about rape. Other media outlets are busy telling us who came to celebrate this film that has also been accused of plagiarism by Abhishek Rai. A student of the Asian Academy of Film and Television. The premise of Devi has been directly lifted from his 2018 film Four which was made in response to the Asifa rape case.
That the producer of Devi, Niranjan Iyengar and Kajol (Refer to their conversation on Film Companion) feel no obligation to give credit to the original is not surprising. The film industry is notorious for filching and appropriating ideas and a lot more. It is the tone deaf ”celebration” that should tell us everything about an industry that can commodify anything for profit. Be it WhatsApp bred noxious nationalism in propagandist films. Or a heartbreaking story about rape that can be repackaged and sold as a click bait. 11 million clicks and views at the last count.
Like politics, even cinema has been reduced to just optics. The media too does its bit by dumbing us down with headlines like “Priyanka’s lit and chill weekend will make you green with envy” or “Rajkumar Rao and Patralekha give us major couple goals.” Who is the “you” and “us” in these stories? Why are we supposed to feel envy and aspiration on a cue like Pavlovian animals? Why should we just consume content and not dig deep or ask questions as to why so many stars are now leading lynch mobs on twitter?Or why even the most influential in the industry have to stoop and steal ideas to conquer? The celebration of Devi shows just this. That success must be had. And flaunted. No matter who ends up bearing the cost.
This is a Republic World report about the success party of a film about rape. Other media outlets are busy telling us who came to celebrate this film that has also been accused of plagiarism by Abhishek Rai. A student of the Asian Academy of Film and Television. The premise of Devi has been directly lifted from his 2018 film Four which was made in response to the Asifa rape case.
That the producer of Devi, Niranjan Iyengar and Kajol (Refer to their conversation on Film Companion) feel no obligation to give credit to the original is not surprising. The film industry is notorious for filching and appropriating ideas and a lot more. It is the tone deaf ”celebration” that should tell us everything about an industry that can commodify anything for profit. Be it WhatsApp bred noxious nationalism in propagandist films. Or a heartbreaking story about rape that can be repackaged and sold as a click bait. 11 million clicks and views at the last count.
Like politics, even cinema has been reduced to just optics. The media too does its bit by dumbing us down with headlines like “Priyanka’s lit and chill weekend will make you green with envy” or “Rajkumar Rao and Patralekha give us major couple goals.” Who is the “you” and “us” in these stories? Why are we supposed to feel envy and aspiration on a cue like Pavlovian animals? Why should we just consume content and not dig deep or ask questions as to why so many stars are now leading lynch mobs on twitter?Or why even the most influential in the industry have to stoop and steal ideas to conquer? The celebration of Devi shows just this. That success must be had. And flaunted. No matter who ends up bearing the cost.
*This piece was written on March 14