Hansal Mehta has picked his next fight with a professional from the cinema industry. Less than a week after his online sparring session with Anupam Kher on his portrayal of the late ex-PM Dr Manmohan Singh in The Accidental Prime Minister, Mehta has now levelled allegations against Lucky Bashkar producer Naga Vamsi for “borrowing” the plot from the Scam series.
The remark was triggered when Vamsi – who was part of a producers’ roundtable by Galatta Plus – boasted about Pushpa 2: The Rule’s success in India. “I don’t think the whole of Mumbai slept after Pushpa 2 grossed Rs 80 crore in one day,” Vamsi said, to which Boney Kapoor added, “that too only in the Hindi belt,” highlighting the massive global success of the Sukumar directorial.
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Vamsi also pointed out how South Indian films have contributed to the Indian film industry and its stark difference from Bollywood films. Talking directly to Kapoor, he said, "One thing sir, you have to accept this. It might sound really harsh. We, South Indians, have changed the way you look at the cinema. Because you guys are stuck in making films for Bandra and Juhu. You witnessed a change with Baahubali, RRR, Animal and Jawan."
Mehta hit back at Vamsi’s comment, calling him arrogant and accusing him of liberally borrowing from his 2020 directorial, Scam 1992.
Since this person Mr Naga Vamsi was being so arrogant and now that I know who he is : His latest hit as a producer Lucky Bhaskar has borrowed liberally from the Scam series. Reason I brought this up is that I feel happy that stories travel and a film in another language suceeds… https://t.co/R4oC0kNHKc
— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) December 31, 2024
Netizens were quick to defend the Dulquer Salmaan-starrer in the comments, on user writing claiming that the Scam series itself was “borrowed” from Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. “Borrowed from scam?? I am sorry but Scam itself is borrowed from Wolf of Wall Street liberally, it was just a series with good writing, it applies to Lucky Baskhar too, even though it was in the same world as Scam, but protagonists and perspectives are different”.
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“The Scam series itself is heavily borrowed from public information, some books and news reports. That's not proprietary in the strict sense,” another user commented.
Mehta’s Scam 1992 was based on the true story of fraudster Harshad Mehta and the 1992 Indian stock market scam on the Bombay Stock Exchange initiated by him. The second instalment of the series, Scam 2003 (2023), was based on Indian counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi.
