Avatar: The Bollywood Connection

Dear Mr Cameron

I finally found out why Manmohan Desai died a broken man. That great master, who made people change their blood groups to “Rh ka khoon” and invented the “three in one online blood transfusion” (he was the only director ever to be nominated for the Noble (sic) prize for medicine but he withdrew his nomination himself, opting for The Film Unfair award) was heart-broken the day he found out that some White man in Hollywood had copied his dream script, which was in turn ‘inspired’ by thousands of works of art from Bollywood, and patented it under the name “Avatar”.

There is a lot of trade buzz on how you were waiting for the right technology before you embarked on Avatar. What bull. You were waiting for people to forget Manmohan Desai and his dream. But Mr Cameron, you cannot fool all of the people all the time, especially Bollywood fans, who know a thing or two about originality. To make matters worse, I waited for the entire end credits to roll and there was not even a mention of the Bollywood greats who inspired your Magnum Opus. You see, we have a code of conduct in Mumbai. We pay people Rs 1 Lakh for the story of a Rs 300 crore movie. By that logic if your movie does a Billion dollars….you do the math.

There is a lot of controversy on how 3 Idiots is based 50% or 60% on Chetan Bhagat’s book but no one is talking about how “Avatar” is based entirely on Bollywood works. And that too blatant plagiarism. How else do you explain a movie which starts with the story of Judwa brothers who get separated. Now given its death which parts their ways but then again death is a path to Nirvana as is Kumbh Mela.

The basic plot has been so often repeated in Bollywood right from “Namak Haram” to that classic “Praan Jaye Par Shaan Ne Jaye”, which in turn, are a direct rip off from Singur and Bastar and hundreds of incidents in India where the poor are uprooted from their land. Infact even the name of the indigenous tribe in “Avatar” is so close to “Naxal” that it cannot be sheer coincidence (see the first two alphabets are the same).

I can go on and on. Scene by scene. But the ultimate inspiration was the entire Na’avi tribe singing “O Palanhare”…a la Lagaan when faced with adversity. And then following it up with “Shirdi Waale..Sai baba” ..when they are praying for that mother figure to get better.

And what about the “Ramayana” angle? I am surprised the BJP has not claimed Royalties from you. From times immemorial, every calendar in every shop in India has depicted the original Avatar, Jai Sri Ram, in blue. Isn’t it uncanny that you use the same depiction? Tell me honestly, didn’t you lift the look and color of your Avatar from that Amit Hardware Store Calendar, Gumti No 5, Kanpur? And what about using the Vaanar Sena, the Bhalus, the Garudas to fight against the evil? And the floating mountains? How else can you explain it except with Nal and Neel?

But rest easy Mr Cameron sir, we are a very forgiving people. You will not see any law suits or claims from India. Not because we condone plagiarism. It’s because we believe in creative inspirations. Throughout its history, the Indian Cinema, especially the Bollywood variety, has been inspired by other works of art. Our first attempt is to search within, as the great saints say. Not within ourselves Sir, within India, especially down south. And if that fails we look west, or east because we know far west is actually east, or rather Korea. And it is this inspirational trait that makes us take pride in the fact that you are now a brother. We are happy that our work inspired you. And you see, successful inspiration breeds further inspiration. So Bollywood has already started working on a few projects inspired by your own. Every producer and director worth their salt is currently analyzing the Avatar DVD. The DVD is not yet released you say? You make me laugh Sir.

But honestly tell me something, and I promise to keep it a trade secret, how on earth did you do it. I understand computer-shamputer and effects-sheffects, but how did you manage to show emotion in that girl’s eyes. We have been trying forever to get real human beings to emote but it has been decades since we last saw such or rather any emotion from any of our actresses. Except when we tell them the song sequence will not be shot abroad or their payment will be delayed by a week. That, in-fact, is a brilliant idea. Next time I will can that look and use it in my film. Lack of continuity you say, well our audience is used to that and a lot more. See sir, even writing to you has been inspirational.

Another issue, the organizers of The Film Unfair awards have asked me to pass this message to you. They are willing to nominate your film in 3-4 categories and will even give you one or two awards (that’s really generous of them as you see “Paa” and “3 Idiots” have already been promised most of the awards this year) on the condition that you will arrange for “Neytiri” to come and do an Item Number at the awards. See sir, what an opportunity. I will call you to discuss this.

Yours Truly