Director Sujeet’s action-thriller ‘
Saaho
’, starring
Prabhas and
Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles, has laid siege over the domestic box-office, with collections for the Hindi version touching 100-crores in just 4 days. Amidst the hype, reports of the film being a copy of a French actioner began doing the rounds. After catching a screening of the film, a few social media users were quick to point out that the film bore many similarities to director Jérôme Salle’s ‘
Largo Winch
’.
The director finally took to social media to react to allegations that ‘Saaho’ is a rip-off of his 2008 film. “I think I have a promising career in India,” Salle said in his response to a Twitter user who pointed out, “Buddy another day and another free make of your Largo Winch movie in India.”
Slamming the makers of ‘Saaho’, the director continued, “It seems this second “freemake” of Largo Winch is as bad as the first one. So please Telugu directors, if you steal my work, at least do it properly? And as my ‘Indian career’ tweet was, of course, ironic, I’m sorry but I’m not gonna be able to help. (sic)”
These developments come after actress Lisa Ray called out the ‘Saaho’ team for allegedly plagiarizing artist Shilo Shiv Suleman’s stunning Burning Man installation in their song ‘Baby Won't You Tell Me’.
With all the heightened interest surrounding these new developments, let’s take a look at some interesting similarities between Jérôme Salle’s ‘Largo Winch’ and 'Saaho'.
‘Largo Winch’ is a 2008 French action thriller based on the Belgian comic book by the same name. The film released in the US in 2011 as ‘
The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch’.
‘Largo Winch’ revolves around the murder of a Billionaire Nerio Winch. With a huge firm, money and power on the line, Winch’s team is made known of his adoptive son Largo Winch who is the rightful heir to all the fortunes. However, as the story goes, there are a few who are sceptical about Largo’s existence and his claims over the huge stakes of the company.
Meanwhile, ‘Saaho’ follows an expansive criminal syndicate engulfed in a power struggle following the death of the Kingpin. Post the murder of the crime boss, his son, Devaraj declares himself the next leader of the crime syndicate, leading to others to rise in rebellion and claim the throne for themselves.
Filled with plot twists, lies, deceit, manipulation and power-play the story makes way for some intense action sequences and scenes such as these that had many connecting the dots between the two films.
Both 'Largo Winch' and 'Saaho' have the leading man falling for the damsel only to come to a point where they are betrayed and only later learn of the other’s true identities.
Apart from the elaborate settings and futuristic cityscapes, another interesting point in the narrative of the French actioner, is the scene where Largo uses the last of his strength to stab the antagonist Marcus in the neck with a knife, killing him. This ought to set some bells ringing for those who have watched ‘Saaho’.
The film finally ends with the young blood Largo declaring his right over the company and taking over his father’s business, much like how Saaho declares himself as the nest Kingpin of crime and eventually has a target set on himself.
Long before fans were drawing similarities between the films, ‘Saaho’ makers were accused of plagiarism when the first poster seemed like a rip-off of Ryan Gosling’s ‘Blade Runner 2049’.
The team was in for another blow when their another poster that followed was said to be a copy of the video game, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.