“Maybe it was just two minds thinking the same idea at the same time,” Seema Pahwa On Similarities between Her Film & Pagglait

 The  controversy surrounding the similarities between two recent films Seema Pahwa’s  Ram Prasad Ki Terahvi and and  Umesh Bist’s  Pagglait has now  snowballed  with  Ms Pahwa claiming that Umesh  Bist shot  his film in the same haveli in Lucknow where   Ms Pahwa’s film was  shot.

Umesh Bist in a chat with me  also claims he  has not seen Ram Prasad Ki Terahvi. While commenting on the alleged  similarities  between the two films, Umesh said, “You  are the best judge.I haven’t yet seen the  other  film. You have seen both.”

Sayd  Ms Pahwa ,  “As far as I know they  saw my film at MAMI(the Mumbai  Film Festival). They made their film after mine. They are so much ahead  of me in marketing, etc. Ekta Kapoor is  the producer. She knows  the  business inside  out.They  could  have easily made the changes needed .In fact the  mature thing to do would have been for the two teams to sit together and compare notes, so that there would  have been no embarrassing similarities.”

Related Post

Ms Pahwa  is  not in the  least angry. “I am just sad  and puzzled. This  whole  episode  could have been avoided.”

The  veteran actress-turned-director  is still willing to  give the other  film the  benefit of  the doubt. “Maybe  it was just two minds thinking the same  idea at  the same time. I know  it sounds far-fetched. But it’s not  impossible. They even  shot in the house that we did. Again it could because they saw that property to be cinema-friendly. Just as  I felt  that the  house lent itself well to my vision, they too must have  felt the same….I don’t know.”

Ms Pahwa pauses  for  pondering  . Then says, “I just want to know why they didn’t make  the necessary changes to avoid  replication  when they had the  time to do. After all we  started shooting long before them. We released months before.  Initially they must have thought their film would turn  out differently although both are  about a joint family during  the 13-day mourning after  a death. But their protagonist is  a young girl and  ours an elderly lady. Unfortunately  the similarities  between the two films don’t end there.”

Subhash K . Jha

Leave a Comment
Leave a Comment
Published by
Subhash K . Jha

Recent Posts

“Nowadays  I’m Living Out Of Suitcases,”  Shabana Azmi Sighs  Before Taking Off To Be Honoured At The Nantes Film Festival

Shabana  Azmi is  in and out of cities  these days .Shabana Azmi’s  50 year journey… Read More

17th November 2024

Mithya The Darker Chapter  Gives A Good Name To  Sequels

Mithya The Darker Chapter  Gives A Good Name To  Sequels Rating: *** ½ Applause Entertainment’s  Mithya:… Read More

8th November 2024

Citadel: Honey Bunny, & A Run For Their  Money

Citadel: Honey Bunny, & A  Run For Their  Money Rating: ****  To set  the record straight,  Raj-DK’s  Indian avatar … Read More

8th November 2024

Kartik Aaryan’s Bravest  Performance To  Date  In  Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3

For those  enamoured  of  the  first two films in  the   funny-fearsome  franchise,  Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is  deliberately… Read More

2nd November 2024

“I could well be Shabana Patil and she Smita Azmi!” Celebrating 69 Years Of Smita Patil

Who discovered Smita Patil for cinema? We  all think it is  Shyam Benegal. But veteran … Read More

18th October 2024

Shreyas Talpade On  Portraying Schizophrenia  In  Zindaginama

The talented Shreyas Talpade admits  that the fact  he went  through  a serious health crisis… Read More

18th October 2024