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Denim ad starring Deepika Padukone accused of plagiarism by filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Mar 03, 2021, 01:24 PM IST
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Photograph:(Twitter)

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Filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala has accussed the makers of a denim brand advertisement of plagiarism. The ad features Deepika Padukone. 

 

Prominent screenwriter and filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala has accussed the makers of a denim brand advertisement of plagiarism. The ad features Deepika Padukone. 

Taraporevala has accused the makers of copying the set design from her film 'Yeh Ballet' which had released on Netflix last year. 

Interestingly, the ad's production designer, Rupin Suchak, in a Twitter conversation admitted that the similarities were deliberate.

Taking to Instagram, Taraporevala expressed her shock at discovering that the ad had striking similarities to her film. 

She shared two stills- one from her ad, the other from film to draw the attention of her followers to the blatant copy and called out India's copycat culture. 

"A couple days ago someone brought this @levis_in ad to my attention. I was shocked to see our Yeh Ballet dance studio set in this ad, because it was conceptualized & created out of a derelict space by @shalzoid (our PD) from scratch and dismantled after our shoot. Basically @nadiaeye (the director of this ad) saw Yeh Ballet and decided to plagiarize our set down to the very last detail (swipe for screenshot). Would Levi’s and the director ever think of doing that in the west without permission / acknowledgment, and passing it off as their own creative work? This is not homage this is intellectual theft! It’s SO unfair to our wonderful production designer @shalzoid to have her work ripped off like that", Taraporevala wrote on her post. 

"Copycat culture in India needs to be called out and cancelled. You would think a foreign production company and director would know better. Are you so creatively bankrupt? What were you thinking? @levis_in @nadiaeye @offroadfilms @rupinsuchak @newland.tv," she added.

Taraporevala's film follows two Mumbai kids who dream of taking up ballet professionally, much to the disapproval of their families and society.

The filmmaker also shared a screenshot of the Twitter conversation of the said ad's production designer who admitted that he was given the brief to follow the theme of the film while conceptualising the advertisement.