YouTuber Corrie Hinschen is on a mission - to expose a whole lot of Indian films that have been unabashed rip-offs of films from other countries or languages.
Hinschen, who reviews Asian films on YouTube, says he was forced to make this video after he found out that a Malayalam film which was highly recommended to him turned out to be a copy of another film.
“First things first, this video was originally intended to be a review of the Malayalam film Chaappa Kurishu. This film was recommended to me by several people and I am very sorry to say this to you, but you have been bamboozled, you have been duped, you have been ripped off,” he alleges.
Speaking on Sameer Tahir’s 2011 flick, Chaappa Kurishu, which stars Fahadh Faasil, Remya Nambeesan and Vineeth Srinivasan, Hinschen claims, “This movie is an unauthorised remake of the South Korean film Handphone,.
“Why do Indian directors do this?” he asks in the video.
Referring to French director Jerome Salle, who accused Telugu director Trivikram Srinivas of ripping off his French film Heir Apparent Largo Winch (2008), to make the Pawan Kalyan starrer Agnyathavaasi, Hinschen said that if this is true, he hoped the French director goes on to sue Trivikram.
Hinschen also told his viewers that Indian directors have a reputation worldwide for ripping off other films, adding that once they were called out, they hide under the word “inspired” .
“I find it amusing that they are quite happy to take all the credit before that moment. But once that moment happens where somebody calls them out…they start to throw around the word inspired or the phrase inspired by,” he said.
The YouTuber even suggests that these directors buy themselves a dictionary to understand the word “inspired”.
Hinschen also said he hoped more Indian directors will follow John Abraham’s lead. The Bollywood actor has reportedly bought the rights for a South Korean film called Rocky Handsome and has also given complete credits to the writer.
“This has to end. It is getting ridiculous. Not only are these writers, directors and producers ripping off other filmmakers. They are ripping off you as a consumer. They are telling you that you are getting an original product when it is not one,” he said
Warning directors that he will call them out on their plagiarism if he spots one, he said, “If I get something and it’s a rip-off, and it’s not official, I will call it out and I will call out these people and I will make it known that they are thieves.”
Chaappa Kurishu is not the first Indian film to face plagiarism accusations and it probably won’t be the last. However, Hinschen warns Indian directors that in future, more people will come to know about the shameless rip-offs as he will make a video about it.