Published 16:47 IST, July 28th 2020
Onir calls out Zoya Akhtar's 'Made In Heaven' for 'plagiarising' scene from 'I Am'
Filmmaker Onir called out Zoya Akhtar's Made In heaven for plagiarism from his film I Am. He said acknowledegment has never been the strength of the industry
Filmmaker and producer Onir re-tweeted a tweet on Monday and called out Zoya Akhtar's Made In Heaven for copying a few scenes from his National Award-winning film I Am. Nalinii Rathnam, creative producer and casting director, shared a YouTube video link on Twitter, showing how a scene of both I Am and Made In Heaven was exactly the same, frame by frame.
While re-sharing the tweet, Onir expressed his displeasure in the caption. Onir's caption read, "I was quite taken aback when I saw that so much of that section of I Am was not only there as content but shot exactly in the same way."
Onir calls out 'Made In Heaven'
Onir further added, "But acknowledgement has never been the strength of this industry." The frame of the YouTube video is divided into two. The viewer can see two men getting caught in a private moment by the police. After forcing them out of the car, a police officer can be seen sexually harassing one of them. Both the scenes, one from Made In Heaven and I Am feature actor Arjun Mathur.
The re-shared tweet on Onir's handle bagged more than a hundred likes and is still counting while 35 of Twitter users commented on the same. One of the users called it Onir's "intellectual property" and asked him to take action against it.
On the other side, a user's comment read, "ROFL Arre sir, #8Mile wasn't credited for #GullyBoy, you tho high hopes forget it". Meanwhile, the makers of Made In Heaven, Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, have not reacted on the same.
Talking about Made In Heaven, it's an Amazon Prime Video's original web-series. The nine-episode series chronicled the lives of Tara played by Shobita Dhulipala and Karan played by Arjun Mathur, two wedding planners running an agency in Delhi. The first season started streaming on the platform from March 2019.
Onir's movies
Apart from the National award-winning film I Am, Onir is also known for a Sanjay Suri starrer My Brother Nikhil. The 2005 release was considered as one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships. Apart from I Am, he has won numerous awards and accolades for his work. His last project Shab, which featured Raveena Tandon, released in 2017.
Updated 16:47 IST, July 28th 2020