‘Poster Copycats’ of Bollywood
Do you ever pause on looking at a fresh release of a Bollywood movie poster to wonder if you have seen that movie before? Well, we would not be surprised if you have for posters look so damn alike today! And we don’t blame you since some are even downright copy-paste of another.We take a look at the copycats of Bollywood whose posters are appallingly similar to really famous Hollywood movies.
PK – Aamir Khan may have landed in legal trouble owing to the nude poster of his upcoming film ‘PK’ , but the perfectionist and his film has been entangled in yet another controversy. The film’s poster stands out strangely similar to the poster of an album cover of a Portuguese musician named Quim Barreiros. The ‘PK‘ poster has Aamir posing with nothing but an old transistor covering his bare essentials. The old album cover that was released way back in 1973 has Quim holding a musical instrument to hide his naked body.
Happy New Year- Shah Rukh Khan’s films never fail to craft a stimulation and the same happened when the first poster of ‘Happy New Year’ was released. Farah Khan’s film’s first look grabbed attention for untold reasons,one of them being related to the poster being ‘copied’ from ‘Cash’. ‘Cash’ was a 2007 film directed by Anubhav Sinha. Although the film did not do good at the box office, the poster of ‘Happy New Year’ drew this film in the limelight. As can be seen in the image, the stellar star cast of the film are seen posing in an enormous arch which is uncannily similar to the Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Cash’.
Creature 3D-Bipasha Basu starrer ‘Creature 3D’s’ poster was the talk of the town as it looked very similar to the Hollywood flick ‘Jeepers Creepers’. Directed by Vikram Bhatt and starring Bipasha Basu and Imran Abbas Naqvi, the poster of ‘Creature 3D’ looks like a replica of the 2001 Hollywood horror movie.
Ek Villain –Shraddha Kapoor, Siddharth Malhotra and Riteish Deshmukh starrer ‘Ek Villain’ did extremely well at the box office but the film came under the scanner of film critics when a rather ‘inspired’ poster of the film was released. The poster of ‘Ek Villain’ generated a controversy when people said it to be a rip-off of the poster of ‘Step Up’. The poster has Shraddha Kapoor and Siddharth Malhotra in the same pose as that of the lead pair in the ‘Step Up’ poster. This is not it for yet another ‘Ek Villain’ poster that had half- face of Siddharth on one side and half of Riteish with Shraddha in the middle was also a rip-off of another Hollywood movie ‘Face/Off’ starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag-Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra may have counted it big with ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ but one of the film’s poster wasn’t spared when it got released. When the film’s poster with Farhan Akhtar running and fire surrounding him was released initially, it was condemned for being ‘copied’ from Hollywood flick ‘Ghost Rider’. The ‘Ghost Rider’ poster shows a bike on fire and so the evaluations between the two cannot be overruled. Although, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ received a lot of praise after is release, still the ‘inspired’ poster fell flat with the critics.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara –Zoya Akhtar’s film ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ may have encouraged a lot of us to take trips and holidays which was ‘novelty’ , but the film’s poster itself seemed as if it was inspired by another film. Analyse the poster of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and it feels like a replica of ‘Lords of Dogtown’, a 2005 Hollywood film. The ZNMD poster has a bare chested Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol walking together while the poster of ‘Lords of Dogtown’ has a similar look and feel.
Ghajini- ‘PK’ wasn’t the first time an Aamir Khan film was alleged of replicating a poster. Back in 2008 when ‘Ghajini’ was released, its poster hit headlines for illegitimate reasons . Aamir Khan had confidently polished up his body and wanted to put it on exhibit on the poster of ‘Ghajini’ but a striking similarity to the poster of ‘Hulk’ made the records sour for Aamir Khan fans. Have a close look of the two.
Heroine –Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Heroine’ is next in the list of copycat Bollywood posters. You will be stunned once you take a look at the poster of both the film and the cover of the book. While the poster of ‘Heroine’ has Kareena Kapoor lying on a bed with her legs raised on the wall, the cover of Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi’s novel ‘The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay’ is no different. The novel ‘The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay’ was released in 2009 while ‘Heroine’ is a 2012 film. The much glorified film failed to garner numbers at the box office and the inspired poster only added to its desolation.
Ra One – Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor once again stand in our queue of copycats as their film ‘Ra.One’ and its poster grabbed eyeballs at the time of its release as its poster was a complete rip-off of the popular Hollywood film ‘Batman Begins’. Directed by Anubhav Sinha, ‘Ra.One’ featured Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. The poster of ‘Ra.One’ was condemned for being profoundly inspired from director Christopher Nolan’s 2005 film ‘Batman Begins’ starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Ken Watanabe. Take a look at both the posters and you may decide for yourself.
Anjaana Anjaani– Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra starrer ‘Anjaana Anjaani’ did not taste success at the box office but the film’s poster seems to be imprinted in our memories especially since it resembles that of a Hollywood film ‘An Education’. Starring Carrey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard, the poster of ‘An Education’ that was released in 2009 and that of ‘Anjaana Anjaani’ which came out in 2010 look very similar.
Kites –Apart from the scorching chemistry between Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori in ‘Kites’ one more thing that adds value to the film is its poster. The poster of ‘Kites’ has Hrithik and Barbara in a sizzling pose. The astonishing part is that this Hrithik Roshan film has taken a leaf out of one of Hollywood’s favourite romantic film ‘The Notebook’. ‘The Notebook’ stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams and the poster became legendary for being so romantic. It is bizarre that a mainstream Hollywood biggie was handpicked for ‘inspiration’ by filmmaker Rakesh Roshan.
