After months of anticipation, S.S. Rajamouli’s fans were treated to the first poster of the magnum opus Baahubali: The Beginning — A wailing baby held firmly in a woman’s hand rising out of the water. Film enthusiasts, however, were quick to notice that the poster looked quite similar to it’s albeit less dramatic predecessor from the 1998 English comedy-drama, Simon Birch.
While many are inclined towards giving Rajamouli the benefit of doubt, this is not the first time an Indian film poster has looked similar to that of a Western one, even if their plots have been completely different.
Aamir Khan’s PK’s famous transistor poster resembled Portuguese musician Quim Barreiros’ 1973 music album. Priyadarshan’s Hulchul is borrowed from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Anjaana Anjaani’s poster looks exactly like that of the Oscar-nominated film An Education. And Abbas Mustan’s acclaimed film Aitraaz’s poster is taken from the 1967 Dustin Hoffman movie, The Graduate.
A film’s poster is often released even before its first teaser and it is crucial to help spread word about the creative product. Thus, in today’s day and age, when it doesn’t take one much time to find out about such discrepancies, what good does it ultimately do to a filmmaker who chooses to borrow from another film?
Director Raj Nidimoru says that at times a director is not even aware that a film’s poster is copied from somewhere else.
“Normally, for every film, there are three to four creative agencies coming in and pitching their ideas to best represent its story. And if they consciously create a poster, which looks similar to an obscure French film, and also does justice to the project at hand, the director could go ahead with it, because he has no idea about this other film,” says Raj.
But what about when movie posters are borrowed from films that are quite popular? Filmmaker Naga Ashwin says that originality is merely an illusion in our minds and every idea is inevitably inspired from something, which has come before and has managed to trigger the imagination of the director. “Instead of originality, filmmakers should aspire for authenticity, meaning that they should be genuine to the purpose of what they are creating,” says Naga Ashwin.
“And if its poster looks familiar to another film, it’s simply because it does justice to the message the current film is trying to send out. “For e.g. the image of the infant Krishna floating in a river has been used so many times, in different ways and contexts and Baahubali in fact reminds me a little of that vision. Filmmakers have always had the tendency to get inspired from other films or reality for that matter, but the prerogative should be to take up an idea and make it their own,” adds Naga Ashwin.
Even the art world is not immune to artists copying the work of other artists. Glower Paul, a young artist from the city says there is no harm in borrowing an idea as long as you are acknowledging it. “Over the years, thousands of copies have been made of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. It is not unusual for somebody to get motivated by a famous artwork, but if you use it in what you choose to create, the least you can do is give credit,” he adds.
Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch had once said, “Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations…” And reiterating what he said, Raj adds that every film is a derivative of another, but a good director makes an idea his own, even if its for a poster and helps it shine through. “And I feel that’s what makes the difference,” he says.
