French Director Calls Saaho a ‘Freemake’ of His Film ‘Largo Winch’

Twitter users found similarities between the two films.

Since its release, Saaho has been in the news for various reasons. Be it the record-breaking collections it is making at the box-office, or the allegations of plagiarism it has been facing, the movie has been at the centre of controversies for some time now.

Just days after actor Lisa Ray accused the makers of plagiarism, French director Jerome Salle has alleged that the film is a ‘freemake’ of his 2008 thriller Largo Winch. After a lot of Twitter users tagged him in posts about Saaho, the director found a lot of similarities between the two films and asked the makers to ‘at least copy his film properly.’

It seems this second "freemake" of Largo Winch is as bad as the first one. So please Telugu directors, if you steal my work, at least do it properly?

And as my "Indian career" tweet was of course ironic, I'm sorry but I'm not gonna be able to help. https://t.co/DWpQJ8Vyi0

— Jérôme Salle (@Jerome_Salle) September 1, 2019

Largo Winch is French action thriller where, after a powerful billionaire is murdered, his secret adoptive son must race to prove his legitimacy, find his father's killers and stop them from taking over his financial empire.

Watch the trailers of the two films here:

This isn’t the first time, however, Largo Winch has been allegedly copied. In 2018, director Trivikram Srinivas was accused of copying the same film for his Agnyaathavaasi. Jerome Salle had then said, “Indian cinema has all the necessary talent and creativity for not having to plagiarize. And the silence from #Agnathavaasi team since one week is deafening. So let's take action now. #LegalNotice.”

Indian cinema has all the necessary talent and creativity for not having to plagiarize. And the silence from #Agnathavaasi team since one week is deafening. So let’s take action now. #LegalNotice

— Jérôme Salle (@Jerome_Salle) January 18, 2018

This comes just a few days after Lisa Ray accused Saaho makers of copying an artwork of contemporary artist Shilo Shiv Suleman, and used it in one of their posters of the song Baby Won’t You Tell Me. Lisa shared the two pictures, one of the original artwork and the other of a similar image featuring Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor's photos on it.

She wrote: “…We need to stand up and speak up. To hold up a mirror to these makers to make them understand THIS IS NOT RIGHT. It's come to light that a big budget film production has ripped off one of Shilo's original creations. This is NOT inspiration but blatant theft. In no world, is this acceptable. The production did not contact the creator, asking her permission or offer to collaborate or offering a credit.”

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What is creativity? What is art? Where does it come from? We feel what it is not. It’s not derived from your social status. Nor your job title. Nor your appearance. Creativity and its sister Art reach us from the sweet spot of the universe- the soul you might say. But I do know that the creator- artist is the channel for it. Let me tell you how hard it is to birth anything original or authentic. I personally labored for years over my book, quelled the doubts and noise from others and didn’t emerge until I was almost undone. And when I was moving through dark spaces of self-doubt or hitting creative walls I would turn to the work that @shiloshivsuleman puts out into the world and shares on her Instagram handle for inspiration. I can recognize when a creator works honourably and deeply, bleeding, sacrificing, unsleeping, stretching herself in the direction of emotional bravery to produce work that births those feelings we all look for in day to day life. To feel inspired. To feel alive. That’s why when something dishonorable happens, we need to stand up and speak up. To hold up a mirror to these makers to make them understand THIS IS NOT RIGHT. It’s come to light that a big budget film production has ripped off one of Shilo’s original creations. This is NOT inspiration but blatant theft. In no world, is this acceptable. The production did not contact the creator, ask her permission nor offer to collaborate or offer a credit. Nothing. This is not right. I believed the Hindi film industry was evolving necessarily past stealing storylines and rampant plagiarism but the producers of Shahoo have obviously not gotten the memo when it comes to art. Here’s the thing- Creators are worthy of worship. What they produce are more lasting and precious so than all the other ‘things’ we accumulate that can be taken away. Let’s hold these producers accountable for their infuriating, dishonourable action. How would you feel if a thief slid into your home and took away your most prized possessions? Your heart. Your soul. And your livelihood. Image @dietsabya

A post shared by lisaraniray (@lisaraniray) on Aug 30, 2019 at 5:05am PDT