Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; April 8, 2017)

Film-buffs on social media are rightly going gaga over the trailer of Irrfan Khan starrer Hindi Medium that slams Indians’ obsession with English. But the Bengali film frat, it appears, has woken up to a shocker. Not only is Tollywood disappointed with the trailer, they have vehemently criticised it, especially on Twitter, for allegedly being an uncredited copy of the film Ramdhanu (2014), directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee.

Mukherjee tells mid-day, “I can't say it (the film Hindi Medium) is a direct copy yet, since I have not seen the whole film. But since the time they had announced the film, we have been getting messages from common folk, suggesting as much. The only one thing I can tell you is that their poster is exactly the same (as ours). Also if you check on social media, the entire Bengali film industry is talking about it. I feel the concepts are way too similar as well.”

Quiz Mukherjee if he plans to take action against Hindi Medium makers, and he says, “We are shocked and confused right now. We also have our next film releasing on the same day as that film, and we are in the thick of promotions. The seniors of the Bengal film industry have taken the issue to a different level, since the poster is a copy-paste from my film as well. I have told my producer about the issue. He is himself a lawyer, and is thinking about it (legal action).”

Hindi Medium director Saket Chaudhary, on his part, says, “Ours is a story about how education that is supposed to be a tool of enlightenment has become a tool to create inequality. This inequality is created on basis of English schools, versus regional language schools; private schools, versus government schools. We have researched for our script over a year, and it is based on original material. I would request everyone involved to not rush to a judgement, without ascertaining facts. And the facts can easily be confirmed by watching the film on May 12. ”