Just inspiration? Not really

Silly Sahara. If you must steal someone else’s idea, at least do it surreptitiously. What kind of thief robs the family silver, then sw...

Silly Sahara. If you must steal someone else’s idea, at least do it surreptitiously. What kind of thief robs the family silver, then switches on all the lights and holds a press conference displaying the stolen goods? Answer: a bad one. Only a timely court injunction prevented Sahara from holding a lavish press conference with Karisma Kapoor appearing before the world as Karishma, A Woman of Substance. Oops, we mean, Karishma… Miracles of Destiny.

During the last few months, Sahara has run promos of the serial, taken out full page advertisements and painted the town in hoardings. These proclaim the story of a penniless waif who becomes a rich industrialist. That could be the story of countless novels but it is very definitely the story of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman of Substance.

In the serial’s first episode, telecast last Monday, there was Karishma and then a number of men in various shapes and sizes who love, like, hate or adore her. That is precisely the case with A Woman of Substance.

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Furthermore, at various times, various people involved with the massive production (which stretched to New Zealand and back) admitted that the serial had a liaison with Taylor’s novel. Small wonder that Bradford has moved the Indian courts and halted Karishma… in her tracks. Silly Sahara: why did it not purchase the Indian cable and satellite TV rights to the novel?!

Few Indian film or TV producers bother with such niceties. They think copyright means the right to copy. And, for decades, they have copied with impunity. Even as we write, there are carbon copies, clones of foreign serials on the air: Meri Biwi Wonderful (Sony) and Shararat (Star Plus) are Bewitched in Hindi — down to the twitch of a nose. Robot Karishma (Star Plus) is Small Wonder, Krishna Arjun (Star Plus) have done everything within their power to imitate Remington Steele. If they’ve failed, put it down to a poor imitation. Khullja Sim Sim (Star Plus) is so like The Price is Right and Kehta Hai Dil (Star Plus) was Picket Fences until someone decided to be original and make the weekly into a saas-bahu saga.

Teri Meri Kahani (Sahara) began as Kramer versus Kramer, Dhadkan (Sony) spelt Chicago Hope and Anita Kanwar as Inspector KC was the female impersonator of Colombo. Lastly, Zabaan Sambhalke is Mind Your Language any which way you spell it.

Thus, we have a long and distinguished career in the copying business — not always legally sanctioned. So what? Didn’t someone say there’s no such thing as an original idea? Karishma… may raise the copyright issue but it won’t solve it because — who really cares?

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The opening episode of Karishma saw little of Karishma after she is shot and lies becomingly in a hospital bed. Instead, there’s plenty of lush greenery and sun ’n sand to prove the serial is filmed in New Zealand. Also, plenty of slow motion technical wizardry to reveal how many angles there can be to a camera shot.

Meanwhile, Ak…tion Unlimited Josh (Star Plus) might face some unanticipated legal action. In an opening sequence of this new extravaganza, Muscles from Mumbai, Salill Ankola, is scaling a mountain wall. For a few seconds he is Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. However, all resemblances end there. Ak…tion… is ragged and uneven. Also, about 30 minutes too long. Promoted as the biggest show on TV — but only after Kaun Banega Crorepati — it’s a sort of 2003 Sholay on the small screen (can we slap a case on it?). There’s the strong, silent Ankola as Bachchan, the winsome, chattering Sharavat as Dharmendra and the mastermind — a cherubic Saurabh Shukla for the unsmiling Sanjeev Kumar. Hema ji is played by a sleek and beautiful black … convertible! The brotherhood sets out to fight crime. Initially, they do it for money but they continue for the fun of bringing us Ak…tion Unlimited Josh (who thinks of these names, any way?).

Breathtaking cinematic shots of men flying through the air, and several memorable outdoor fight sequences cannot hide the need for Ankola to change his hangdog expression (occasionally) and the writers the script. It needs to be taut like Ankola’s muscles, not flabby like Shukla’s.