올드보이 (Oldboy) Makers Plan Vengeance on 'Zinda'

i hope the project will be canceled, seriously.
i cant really express how i feel about the whole remake business, it just pisses me off.

*thinks about american remake*
Grrr

Yes, but American remakes are usually about condensing a film and making it more accessible, whereas Bollywood films are usually pushing three hours in length, so they have to add so much extra material and subplots that the films dont really bear that much similarity after all. My particular fave is HUM-TUM, the Indian version of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, complete with a show-stopping musical number on a tram in Amsterdam.
That said, there is indeed a fine line between 'homage' and 'rip-off', and it is completely out of order just remaking someone else's film without the remake rights.

I think now it's time to show the people in India that they crossed the fucking line. Sorry but my opinion about this case: THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A FINE LINE between homage and rip-off. The whole premise and description is enough to see how blatantly the makers took the ideas of Oldboy and make it to a Bollywood movie. To the producers of Oldboy: There is no need for waiting. That's so obvious what Sanjay Gupta is making there. Prepare every fucking lawyer you can find and show this bastard that it's a big NO-NO!
And hell Oldboy was released only 3 years ago in Korea right? 3 YEARS!!! Hell even the idea of an American remake of this unique film makes me cringe.

Yeah, I saw Hum Tum, and I would only say it is loosely based on When Harry Met Sally, enough to be a more original film. A nice film actually.

However Sanjay Gupta is a different case. He straight lifts the plots of other films, without giving credit, he almost completely copied the plot of Resevoir Dogs and a scene from the Ususal suspects. The guy is a big hack. All of his films are plagiarised work.

I've recently begun watching Bollywood, the remakes and copies in Bollywood really do arise my ire, but fortunately there are some great filmmakers in Bollywood who make original and good films, like Devdas, Lagaan and K3G etc It's these folks like Sanjay Gupta that taint it. I'd like to see him get fucked this time.

sue the mofo

Heh. Avenger, your description of Sanjay Gupta pretty much fits Quentin Tarantino to a T as well. I don't remember seeing any credits given to Ringo Lam in Reservoir Dogs, for instance...

It's widely known that Tarantino admits he steals ideas from every movie he sees.
"I steal from every single movie ever made Tarantino told Empire in 1994"

i havent seen the movie so i cant judge how much he took though.

it's about time someone put their foot down. now if hollywood could just stop greenlighting shitty remakes (and sitcom to film transfers). there are plenty of creative people out there dying to make a film so why not give them a chance to tell their story instead of redoing something that has already been done? so what if it's from another country and spoken in a different language. fuck being "accessible". chances are you're gonna see oldboy (or any other film) if you want to. you're gonna get a copy of it on your own or from a friend; don't worry it IS accessible. it's there for the taking. don't give me this crap about movies not being accessible. that's not a legitamate excuse to remake something. remakes are primarily a way for some lazy hollywood exec to put some extra lunch money in his or her pocket by stealing (yes, stealing) someone elses hard work.

This is good news. I hope this sets a precedent and stops all the Bollywood remakes from being made. Like Avenger said, there are many original bollywood films being made. Let's hope we see more of those from now on.

My guess is that legally the makers of OLDBOY don't have a leg to stand on. I think it's extremely hard for a foreign company to pursue a legal case in India, and my guess would be that it's extremely expensive to do so as well.

I'm interested to see how this plays out, however, and I bet a lot of Hollywood lawyers are interested as well. I predict that a title card will be inserted in the front of the movie and a payment will be made to Show East but that's it.

My guess is that legally the makers of OLDBOY don't have a leg to stand on. I think it's extremely hard for a foreign company to pursue a legal case in India, and my guess would be that it's extremely expensive to do so as well. Intellectual property laws varying so much from country to country I think that morally the OLDBOY folks have a point, but I just don't think the legal machinery exists for them to do much about it.

I'm interested to see how this plays out, however, and I bet a lot of Hollywood lawyers are interested as well. I predict that a title card will be inserted in the front of the movie and a payment will be made to Show East but that's it.

This is absolutely retarded. A country like India that is trying to become a part of the global commerce scene can't continue this crap. In theory, Korea as a country could take this to the courts, but I believe there is still a bit of a stigma regarding the Korean quota system policies that give ire to a lot of trade organizations (especially US vs. Korea).

Should be interesting. Retarded, but interesting.

" trying to become a part of the global commerce scene" ? I would say its pretty much already there. Indian film has a global distribution network that is pretty enviable than any other (non-Hollywood) industry's standards. Outside of the numerous specialist cinemas in the UK, for example, you only have to go to places like Africa and the Middle East to see what a large audience Indian film attracts- and music too. Its just it doesnt get reported in the West.

This mofo Sanjay F. Gupta is a shameless bastard. I'm an indian and I own a DVD of Oldboy which isn't available in India yet. We dont need bastards like sanjay gupta to show us what to see. This guy openly admits that he gets inspired a lot and gives the excuse that He's a director and not writer. He just kills the spirit of originals with his stupid half baked copies. another one is Apoorva lakhia whose making a scene by scene copy of Man on Fire. That son of a bitch is even getting the dialogues translated into Hindi.

I hadnt heard about zinda until a few days ago when I happened to come across the trailer. As soon as I saw the scene with sanjaypeering out from the opening in the door and grabbing some guy's leg my heart skipped a beat. This is a frekin outrage. This mofo now thinks he can rip off stuff from te korean industry since its easier to get by the indian audience as original work. I hope somehow he gets sued to hell. Just look at his retarded face grinning at the thought of making money off a complete copy http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/jul/27kan.jpg

i fucking hope show east get a lot out of this than they sold the remake rights to Universal. even maybe get a percentage of the earnings, that will shoe them not to touch korean films!!!
^________________________^ !!!!

Due to the high level of corruption in India it'd probably never get to court and would be a futile chase for Show East, better to take it as a compliament, and hope it encourages the more westernised section of the indian moviegoer audience to hunt out the original Oldboy if it gets a release that is!
Still a travesty that Oldboy is being so obviosly plagerised non the less!!!

i just booked 2 tickets 4 zinda tomorrow in india. i thought sanjay gupta would be starting something original at first after two "inspired" movies, "kaante"(reservoir dogs), musafir (not a total copy of U-Turn). but im thinking about cancelling the tickets now b-cuz wth musafir, i though sanjay gupta was slowly becoming original. its horrible how gupta convinces great actors like sanjay dutt (my favorite bollywood actor, who has acted in original films) that these are his ideas. on the zinda sight it says, ïn kaante "I" explored a heist going awry, male bonding"........." he didnt do that quentin tarantino did. im hoping that gupta gets sued over this.

boy, so a copy of a copy becomes what? Should he directly thank Ringo Lam then?

I don't care if SG has ripped yet another movie. Its still thousand times better than watching those love stories kinda movies. I'm really fucking sick of watching love stories type of movie which has a song every fucking 5 minutes.

Atleast the guy is ripping some intresting stories. I bet you that there are so many Indians who haven't watched Oldboy yet. Now they get a chance to watch it as a rip off in their own language.

The only thing that bothers me is, the SG should give fucking credit to where its due. He can't call this movie original. If you are making rip offs then atleast give credit where its due.

Also the rip off of Man on fire was pretty intresting. I have seen both movies and I must admit I enjoyed watching both.

I don't mind watching rip off movies as long as the credits are given to original or the story is some what different.

I hope Sanjay Gupta is grilled and he goes down on his kness, cuts his tongue and devotes himself as a dog.

People like sanjay gupta only make bollywood appear different that what it really is!! i mean there are so many original movies, like swades, or iqbal or there are movies where due credit is given, like where ram gopal verma clearly say that "Sarkar" was only inspired from The godfather, and that too not the movie, but the book! also Sarkar stands as pretty original movie with script changes tailored for an indian audience.

But Sanjay Gupta is just AWFUL!!! so are the people who copied "when harry met sally", "nine months" "mrs Doubtfire" now these are the cases where people disgrace bollywood. its just shameful for an indian like me to accept that such films were made in india :(

I hope sanjay gupta gets a spa*king this time, i really do!

So what became of this?

Ive seen Zinda

exactly the same as oldboy, the teeth pulling out the Wantons, everything
the only difference is they got rid of the incest bits and made something else up. but essentially it is exactly the same. I dont understand a word of Hindi, but because i saw oldboy i was able to follow the movie completely. By the way oldboy was so much better.
Cheers to Indian Original Cinema, they are doing an Indian "Fight Club" i'm fairly certain it will be exactly the same.

Greg, with "Fight club" the similarity ends with the name. But yes, there are no strong copyright laws in India. Not only foreign films but also old Indian films are remade and old songs are remixed without sharing monies with the original creator.

A scriptwriter/wannabe director narrates his story to a producer - even if he likes it he does'nt show much interest. Then he goes ahead with the story with his in-house director. Stories like these are extremely common in Bollywoood. This can only stop with stronger copyright laws, which the Indian film industry is currently fighting for. Also, Indian's realise that implementing copyright rules will ensure original and better films. The Zinda controversy has been carried by almost all newspapers here in India and the backlash at sanjay gupta has been stronger than this forum.

Currently, Show East cant do much. The only thing going for oldboy is that now many in India know about the controversy. Like me, a lot of Indians want to see oldboy. Since movies are no less than a religion here in India, we should see DVD sales of Oldboy going up, specially with NRIs (Non resident indians).(I dont think the movie can be released in it current format here, cos Indian censorship is another BIG stinking story!!)

Sanjay Gupta quotes:

"With Zinda I have moved away from the Michael Bay / Tony Scott style of filmmaking to the David Fincher / Darren Aronofsky school which is highly stylised but controlled and minimal."

"Who is not a DVD copycat director these days? You show me any movie and I'll show you where it's picked up from." - Reacting to claims that he is a DVD copycat director.

"Critics have always accused me of being ahead of the times. About 'Zinda' one trade expert told me I have made a film that is 10 years ahead. But if making a film of today means making a 'No Entry', I'd rather not be with the times."

taken from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Gupta_%28Director%29

who the hell does this guy think he is bringing up names like Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher? Being ahead of the times? ugh..

Can anyone give an update on if the producers of OldBoy are actively pursuing a lawsuit?

His name is OH DAE-SU.

Sanjay Gupta shouldn't cry when his films are pirated. He is a pirate himself who hasn't credited the original source and has not got permission to remake this film.

Bollywood stinks and lacks originality - even more so than Hollywood. What is even worse is that they even rip off film making techniques as no one is clever or imaginative enough to come out with anything creative.

OLDBOY is original, despite its plot holes etc. ZINDA is just plain sh*t.

I'm an indian myself, but I fucking hate movies from Bollywood. I can't stand them, and I know there is a huge fan base for Bollywood, but the songs and repetitive love stories which are predictable five minutes in, the same fucking actors in every freaking movie--I mean, come on, even the name "Bollywood" is a rip off!

I saw OldBoy recently and loved it so much, and was just looking around for some information on it, and came across this "Zinda" bit. Like Sanctumus said, my heart definetly skipped a beat. Maybe five. I have to say, I've seen my share of Indian Rip Offs--The Bourne Identity, E.T., something near the matrix i think, and quite a few others...but this is a freaking replica (Replica in the sense that OldBoys was made of gold and marble, while Zinda was made of plastic and dirt). I can't believe the nerve SG has--he's greedier than people in Hollywood!

As stated earlier, nothing can be done until India gets some actual laws, but it just eats me alive. It's one thing to ruin a movie when you've been given the rights (as Hollywood is so expert in) but to just ruin it without any sense of dignity and then try and complain about people pirating your shit...I can't even think of what to say to that. It's just repulsive. SG should be burned at the stake at least, although I would prefer what Heyz said: "I hope Sanjay Gupta is grilled and he goes down on his kness, cuts his tongue and devotes himself as a dog."

With that, I've just got a question. India dosn't have any laws, so if Show East tries to take this issue to court, what would happen? Would they say "No, can't, because we don't have any sensible laws here" or what?

Well, before we talk about copying ET, just remember that even Spielberg stole the script of "The Alien" by Satyajit Ray to make ET. Ray reiterated it, and Spielberg never dared to contradict him. If you don't believe me, google for it and you will know.

i ve seen zinda but you guys cant acuse tht it has harmed the popularity of oldboy. afterall its still is a copy.& most of us who liked it wld definitely watch the original classic. zinda is really way ahead 4m othr bollywood shit movies.
already much has been posted abt bollywood movies. but wht you all hv missed out is tht oldboy wasnt evn released here..so 4 many of us it was zinda which gave us the idea abt oldboy.so the oldboy makers shld thnk sanjay gupta 4 tht & release it india asap. & yes i hv watched the usual suspects & the reservoir dogs after watching kaante.
i hate bollywood movies eventough i m an indian. i actually hate 2 admit tht. but bollywood simply makes remakes of the worst kind & its not only gupta- infact gupta shld b credited 4 his courage 2 make movies like zinda which stood no chance of success in the indian market of shitty singin & aweful dancing forcefully included in the movies with pathetic acting & ofcourse a winding & boring screenplay.
and you guys sittin far away 4m here widout ne idea abt bollwood movie makin blame gupta-
& this guy - Visulth says he has seen a bollywood matrix , a bourne identity ,etc ..its an open challenge 2 you - come up with the name of the bollywood copies of nething near the concepts of the above 2 & your words will hold worth..othrwise it shld b you who shld lick ur own shit. got tht.
but i surely blv tht gupta shld hv included the name of oldboy as credits ,if nthng else atleast 2 show tht he his being different 4m othrs in acknowledging the truth.

Just because you say that most of bollywood films are copycats don't make the problem of zinda copying oldboy any less severe. But as far as the zinda/oldboy topic is concerned i don't see the reason for any truly talented directors to ever want to make a complete copycat for any artistic reasons. Either make a better movie of the same version or not at all. If you only wish to make a copycat, then you're hoping only to earn profits from a work of art that you did not come up with. In school we call it plagiarism. In this case, Gupta blatantly copied more than 50% of the OldBoy story AND cinematography, which is unfortunate. It really shows the class, ethics, and self-confidence of the great Mr. Gupta. It's hard to believe that such a director will really ever be movie-driven as opposed to money-driven.

i wud like 2 inform my brethren, tht oldboy is not d only victim of copyright infringement. collateral, there's something abt mary, whole 9 yards, unfaithful,out of time, shattered, SUICIDE KINGS, identity etc. we have also ripped of action scenes from John Woos hard target & face/off with b. identity & equilibrium. Sholay was also INSPIRED by spaggeti westerns. it wud cost d whole budget of our film, only 2 buy d rights of d orginal. life sux.

u know what tht ''B'' in bollywood stands 4 ???

Bastards
Bitches
Bullshit
Blatant rip-off
Balls-licking S.G

Indian arthouse flicks are awesome. Realistic. much better than faggot fare like K3G, KANK, Bunty & Babli and
Salaam-e-Ishq. 2 much romanticization.

man...Old Boy shouldn't be remade...this is what made korean cinema big!...and the Indians go and steal it..just like how they remade the matrix...it was awful

In 1994, Tarantino said he steals ideas from every movie he sees, PARTLY!!!! Unlike ZINDA! It's is a total RIP-OFF of the OLDBOY!!!!! You should see both films before you jusge it and it is definitely a RIP-OFF!!!!!!

I don't see what the big issue is here... This has been done for YEARS by ALL of the indian directors. Its been annoying me for years, so why is it a big deal now when it wasn't a while ago?!!
They copy ALL good films- OLDBOY, MATRIX, GHOST, MAN ON FIRE... THE LIST IS ENDLESS. These prats don't know what COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT is!!
He should be made an example of and SUED till he has nothing left. It really does piss me off!!!
SACK THE HALFWIT!

all the indians directors should be fined heavily!!!!!!!!!

SO THEY WON'T DO IT AGAIN!!!!

im indian. ive grown up with hindi movies. and to be honest. they
fcking suck. this is why i watch korean movies now. but SG has brought a new aspect to bollywood. im soo sick of the random freaking songs, lame dance sequences, and weird romance in hindi films. SG showed india that there was somthing better than shit like. bunti aur, K3G, KANK, Dhoom 2. etc. ill give him that much
but oldboy was an excellent film. and he shouldve freaking given credit atleast. and korea has no hope in india in winning a case. cause india has corrupt courts. also, i have to point out hollywood isnt any better. lake house = il mare. my sassy girl. Marrying the Mafia. My Wife is a Gangster. etc. only difference. america gives credit cause they're not as gay and dumb as SG and bollywood.

im indian. ive grown up with hindi movies. and to be honest. they
fcking suck. this is why i watch korean movies now. but SG has brought a new aspect to bollywood. im soo sick of the random freaking songs, lame dance sequences, and weird romance in hindi films. SG showed india that there was somthing better than shit like. bunti aur, K3G, KANK, Dhoom 2. etc. ill give him that much
but oldboy was an excellent film. and he shouldve freaking given credit atleast. and korea has no hope in india in winning a case. cause india has corrupt courts. also, i have to point out hollywood isnt any better. lake house = il mare. my sassy girl. Marrying the Mafia. My Wife is a Gangster. etc. all being made into hollywood films. only difference. america gives credit cause they're not as gay and dumb as SG and bollywood.

im indian. ive grown up with hindi movies. and to be honest. they
fcking suck. this is why i watch korean movies now. but SG has brought a new aspect to bollywood. im soo sick of the random freaking songs, lame dance sequences, and weird romance in hindi films. SG showed india that there was somthing better than shit like. bunti aur, K3G, KANK, Dhoom 2. etc. ill give him that much
but oldboy was an excellent film. and he shouldve freaking given credit atleast. and korea has no hope in india in winning a case. cause india has corrupt courts. also, i have to point out hollywood isnt any better. lake house = il mare. my sassy girl. Marrying the Mafia. My Wife is a Gangster. etc. all being made into hollywood films. only difference. america gives credit cause they're not as gay and dumb as SG and bollywood.