Although, we were all awed by the flawless performances rendered by Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra but the depravity of such excellence is that it gets washed off, once the p-word gets attached to it.

Yes, the film has been plagiarized; if you aren’t convinced; add these titles to your list of must-watch: The Adventurer and City Lights, both Chaplin masterpieces; Singin’ in the Rain, a Hollywood frolic; and cutting the list short, the background score lifted from Amelie. Yet, Anurag Basu says he did not copy but was merely inspired.

As soon as the film was released, a cheerful chaos followed, even we at MTV accept that we joined in the celebrations but that was only to celebrate the fact that someone, another Anurag, was leading Bollywood back on the right track; we were even willing to look beyond the crime that foreign journalists had begun hinting at. “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.” Where did Anurag Basu take the film? He tried to take it to the Oscars. While I understand it is not decision that counts but whatever happened to conviction.

Here is the list of films: Barfi!, Paan Singh Tomar, The Dirty Picture, Kahaani, Deool (Marathi), Eega (Telugu), Vazhakku Enn 18/9 (Tamil) and Akasathinte Niram (Malayalam). A little more than a week back, Barfi!  had been selected as India’s entry to the Oscars.

Nevertheless, swooping down upon Basu is not the aim of this article; but, to serve a greater cause and that is to bring to light the myopic tendencies of the Academy Jury and the Film Federation of India. Doesn’t it just prove that they cannot differentiate between a Hindi and a Tamil film?

Besides, we haven’t won at the Oscars even once; still, a film like Slumdog Millionaire stole almost all the awards at the Oscars. Obviously, there is a message we don’t comprehend. The message is, the Oscars want an entry that has its roots in the country; certainly, Bollywood does but not until filmmakers succumb to plagiarism of foreign ideas.