
Movie Chor?
Timeliners wrote a piece on how alarmingly similar some visuals were from Bank Chor to a Telugu movie called D for Dopidi, a 2013 Telugu crime-comedy.
So ‘Bank Chor’, with Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi, and Rhea Chakraborty releases on June 16, 2017. It is safe to assume from the title that we can expect a bank heist comedy caper. The gist of the seems to be this: three desperate young men try to pull off a bank heist by holding the people inside a bank hostage. The news spreads and a media circus ensues. And a tough cop hot on the heels of a dreaded thief goes head-to-head with these guys. This is the story of a disastrous day in the life of these amateur bank robbers, which I am sure has some twists and turns. Now, there is a 2013 film called ‘D For Dopidi’ (Telugu), which released in 2013, directed by Siraj Kalla and starring Sundeep Kishan and Varun Sandesh. (disclosure: I know Siraj personally.)
Here’s the trailer of Bank Chor (2017):
And here’s the trailer of D for Dopidi (2013):
I gather from the Timeliners piece that Y Films has denied the comparison and the claims of plagiarism by some YouTube users.
Some of you might say ‘how can you judge Bank Chor from its trailer and claim it is a rip-off of D For Dopidi?’ Fair point. And, that’s why I call it alarming. I am not saying Bank Chor’s ‘story’ is the same as Dopidi’s. The plagiarism argument by some YouTube users probably came up because of the similarities in the ‘visuals.’
And I want you to understand that at this point in time, just by looking at Bank Chor’s trailer I can list a bunch of visuals that seem ‘inspired’ by Dopidi. Take a look:




In both movies, the tough cop engages the media.
The media frenzy is broadcast in both movies.
Both movies have a funny, clueless bank manager.
I could go on:









D for Dopidi also has *drum roll* a real chor.
I know that sometimes coincidentally two creators can think of similar visuals. But this?




Here’s the kicker:
Fin.