Abbas-Mastan: The Bollywood Masters Of Rip-Offs

As Abbas-Mastan launch the trailer of their upcoming ‘Players’ as ’Official‘ remake of ’Italian Job’, here is List of ‘Unofficial” Rip-Offs of the movies by the Director Duo. It’s pity that most of the movies have been nominated for ‘Original Story’.

At least this time they bought the Rights of the film but their 12 previous attempts have were never mentioned that they were inspired or lifted. Although the duo wear the ‘white’ but had been doing the job of lifting. Lets looks into the films which were copied -ripped or raped, by the duo at will.

                     Khel Khel Mein [1975]                                                          Khiladi [1992]

1. First Movie of Khiladi Series was ‘Inspired’ by our own Bollywood Flick. First success for Akshay Kumar!!!




            A Kiss Before Dying [1991]                                                        Baazigar [1993]
 
2. The movie that made Shahrukh the Star he is today was a Copy’. This time the Director Duo ventured Hollywood for Inspiration.But Hollywood never had ‘Kaali Kaali Aakhien’ to boast off !!! Superb Music and SRK won his first Fimfare Award. Bollywood has no reason to Complain.




      Sleeping With The Enemy [1991]                                                     Daraar [1996]
 
3. This one got Bollywood Frenzy. Can’t blame Abbas-Mastan alone. There were 3 filmmakers making Rip-Offs of ‘Sleeping With The Enemy’. And at the same Time. Only Partho Gosh got it right with ‘Agni Sakshi’ . Both ‘Yarana’ and ‘Daraar’ bombed!!! But Arbaaz Khan got Filmfare Award for Best Villain.




                 Nick Of Time [1995]                                                              Baadshah [1999]
   
4. This is Classic. It was copy of not one but three films. Central plot was from ‘Nick Of Time’ and Action Sequence were from Jackie Chan’s ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ & ‘Rush Hour’. UnofficiallyCopied but Film was Official Failure at Box Office !!!




                     Pretty Woman [1990]                                                 Chori Chori Chupke Chupke [2001]
   
5. Now Abbas-Mastan want to do something in Romance Genre . But as usual they dont have anything original in mind. So what they should do. Simple !!!

Take ‘Pretty Woman’ as ‘Doosri Dulhan’ to ’Hum Aap ke Hain Kaun’ type setup for ‘Shaadi’ and ‘Goad Bharai’ . And here we are with ‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’.The film didn’t set Box Office on fire but it did land Bharat Shah in Jail for underworld connection.



                   Consenting Adults [1992]                                                   Ajnabee[2001]
 
6. Another Rip-Off. And the film’s credits show ‘Neeraj Vora’ for ‘Story’.But it doesnt matter as the Film was a success and Ashkay Kumar wins his first Fimfare Award for Negative Role.




            A Perfect Murder [1998]                                                      Humraaz [2002]

7. Another Copy. Another Musical Superhit. And we complain why they copy!!! Akshay Khanna gets many nominations for Best Villain. Seems Villains from Abbas-Mastan movies eventually win !!




             Christine [1983]                                                          Tarzan: The Wonder Car [2004]

8. They even managed to launch a Car for this movie. But the Car along with the movie met with a Well Deserved box office disaster.





                 Disclosure [1994]                                                                  Aitraaz [2004]

 9. Another Musical Hit. This time Priyanka Chopra wins Filmfare Award in Negative Roles. Demi Moore didn’t win any for her much bolder ‘Original’ version. Another reason to make ‘Copies’ !!!



                 Once Upon A Crime [1992]                                           36 China Town [2006]

10. Now how long you can keep copying others Ideas and sell it to different Audience. Another shameless Rip-Off.




                    dot the i [2003]                                                                 Naqaab [2007]

 11. It was frame by frame copy of ‘dot the i’. Not sure why they wanted to copy this one as the original wasn’t a commercial or critical success. The Copied version bombed too.

                  Goodbye Lover [1998]                                                          Race [2008]

12. Biggest Hit of Abbas-Mastan. For that not only did they copy the Script from Hollywood’s ‘Goodbye Lover’ but they copied music from Korea for ‘Pehli Nazar Mein…’ and ‘Zara Zara Touch Me’.

Worst Movies Of Shahrukh Khan!!

Ra.One came and left Shah Rukh Khan Fans disappointed. But that wasn’t the first movie by SRK to do so. Here is my List of Worst movies of SRK in chronological order!!!

Zamaana Deewana [1995]: Can you imagine it was directed by the man who gave us “Sholay”? Well this Shahrukh Khan’s senseless flick turned out to be the last film by Ramesh Sippy.

Guddu [1995]: When legends like Naushad and Majrooh Sultanpuri collaborate to compose a song that goes “Thandi me pasina bahe, Naa Bhookh naa pyas lage, Yaar Yahi Pyar To Nahi, Daddy se Puchhunga”, then you know what lies ahead.

Even writer of all time Classic movies like ‘Pyaasa’ & ‘Kagaz Ke Phool’ could not inspire himself. This was the last time Abrar Alvi wrote anything for Indian Cinema. I guess he saved his worst for the last.

Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India [1995]: This was Shahrukh’s second movie under Ketan Mehta’s direction, both with his wife Deepa Sahi playing opposite SRK. Deepa Sahi also wrote the Screenplay for this one. And the story goes like:

“Don Quixote (Amrish Puri) is a don who plans on selling India in a widely publicized auction. His plan is simple – kidnap the President (Anupam Kher), replace him with a lookalike (also Anupam Kher), throw a scare and “force” the fake President to sell India. Hero (Shahrukh Khan) is new to Mumbai, and is broke and also has Brain Tumor too. ”

Tragic!!! That’s what entire India said about the film.

Three back-to-back flops by Shahrukh. But I guess he didn’t care as a film named DDLJ was on its way.

Trimurti [1995]:Produced by the massively successful filmmaker Subhash Ghai, this costly, star-studded, and heavily hyped epic was not simply Ghai’s first flop in over a decade, but a bomb of colossal proportions — both critically and financially — and one which Ghai would later disown by claiming that it was veteran director Mukul Anand’s film.

By far the movie’s most glaring miscalculation is the conception of its villain, whose garish make-up, thick eyebrows, hook nose and mane of hair make him look like a reject from Planet of the Apes.

This was beginning of end of Subhash Ghai as he delivered Yaadein, Kisna and Yuvraaj in the next few years.

English Babu Desi Mem [1996]: If you are a kin of a bollywood star then there are fair chances that you may end up doing something in films. That’s what Praveen Nischol, brother of Navin Nischol, did. He ended up directing this one. And to the relief of audience this was his first and last attempt at direction. Even a triple role of Shahrukh Khan couldn’t save the film.

Chaahat [1996]: Mahesh Bhatt has directed superb movies likes Arth, Saraansh, Naam, Sir , Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke andZakham. But not sure why he opted for this story which has been seen and heard millions time.

Simple Guy from Village, Dying Father, Crazy Girl , Love Triangle and a Gunda Bhai to make up for the traditional villain slot. Move on!!!

Koyla [1997]: First 15 mins into the movie and I felt that I am watching a C Grade Kanti Shah Flick. A Mute Shahrukh didn’t help either. Even Chartbusting music and beautiful Madhuri couldn’t save it going black and blurred. But I kind liked Amrish Puri’s ‘Bloody Phool’ accent!!

Josh [2000]: This was the first movie of Shahrukh that came after nation was mesmerized by Hrithik Roshan in ‘Kaho Naa..Pyaar Hai’. SRK’s number one status was challenged for the first time in a decade. Expectations were huge. And what we got is a pale copy of ‘West Side Story’.


Mansoor Khan was nowhere near the director that gave us ‘QSQT’ and ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander’. A Total disappointment, though it did average on Box Office due to its hype. Even good music by Annu Malik and SRK’s debut as singer (inspired by Amir Khan’s Khandala Outing) couldn’t make audience sit through the film.

Asoka [2001]: Asoka is Rockstar and Kaurwaki is from FTV. That’s what most of the critics said after the release of film.

In most of the roles that Shahrukh plays his characters in the movie end up playing Shahrukh Khan. Sometimes you like it sometime you don’t. But no one expected Asoka to play Shahrukh Khan rather than vice-versa. In our history lessons I guess none of us imagined Asoka singing and dancing to woo Kaurwaki. That was too much. And to no one’s surprise the film bombed. People preferred to go for Sunny Deol’s high decibel ‘Indian’ which was released on the same day.


There were other ‘Eligible’ Movies too, like ‘Dil Ashna Hai, King Uncle, Ram Jaane andMaya Memsaab. But I guess they got benefit of doubts!