Seems like the British ex MP has a score to settle with the Indian film industry. Archer lashed out at Bollywood over their apparent use of his popular novel’s storylines without so much as to ask his permission. Responding to a question posed to him by Indian website DNA on whether he thought his books would make good film adaptations, Jeffrey furiously stated:-
“Forget Hollywood, just look at your Bollywood!” he replied. “These bunch of thieves have stolen several of my books without so much as a by your leave.”
The popular author accused named films such as Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl and Khudgarz as products of two of his novels, namely Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and Kane and Abel. This was also backed up by the Times of India in a recent article. Archer is really popular in India and claimed that he had sold a whopping 50 million novels in the largely populated country. After seeing the adaptations of his books, he’s now officially selling the film rights. Jeffrey has sold his rights to a novel and a short story to producer Sheetal Talwar in 2013, and director Hansel Mehta.
The former British MP though, had had enough of the Bollywood film producers and spoke harshly about his experience in dealing with them, by stating,“second-rate Bollywood idiot who goes around saying he’s a Bollywood star producer and then he is not! It’s true! What can I say? Such has been my Indian experience many times.”
The Bollywood film industry has been accused of copying films before and not giving them due credit. For example, the hugely popular item song Munni Badnaam Hui from Dabangg was copied from a Pakistani film titled Mr.Charlie. The Pakistani film starred comedian Umar Sharif.
Though there is nothing wrong with adapting books in films or being inspired by a work of genius, fair practice should be adopted and fair play should be encouraged. Bollywood producers should learn to acknowledge and attribute brilliance to those who are behind the storylines, if it is not their own scriptwriters.
