Shekhar Kapur remembers 1983 classic Masoom, Twitterati call film a rip-off of Man, Woman and Child

Director Shekhar Kapur created a benchmark of filmmaking with his 1983 classic Masoom. That was soon followed up by ingenuine narratives like Mr. India and Bandit Queen, which bolstered Kapur’s position as one of Bollywood’s most sought-after directors.

Recently, Shekhar shared a poster of Masoom on social media, adding that he was advised by many of his colleagues and fellow ‘knowledgeable’ people within the industry to rework his script since it had not conventional drama quotient with a villain. But, though he was ’naive, unknown, unskilled and untrained’, Kapur held his ground and went ahead with what now defines his filmography.

Check out Shekhar Kapur’s post on Masoom

So many people that ‘Knew’ wanted me to change the script of this film. People that were famous, experienced and ‘knowledgeable’. Told me it had no drama, no villain. I was naive unknown unskilled untrained. But rebellious. Thank God for that ! pic.twitter.com/Gb6Co3eOo1

— Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) August 1, 2019

The post, however, received criticism from netizens, who pointed out that Masoom was, in fact, not an original piece of work. Many found his film similar to Erich Segal’s novel Man, Woman and Child, which was published months before Masoom was made.  Here’s how people reacted to Shekhar Kapur’s post

Was it a coincidence that there was an English movie "Man Woman and Child" that had an uncanny resemblance to your script? Since it was released few years before Masoom, I guess you had seen it and were "inspired" to write a "rebellious" storyline! 😁

— faiyaz ahmed (@faiyazasm) August 1, 2019

Man, Woman and Child is a 1983 American drama film directed by Dick Richards and written by Erich Segal and David Zelag Goodman.
It is based on Erich Segal's book of the same name.

Hope Shekhar is reminded of his source of rebellion pic.twitter.com/sgEtZLHjvD

— 🆂🅸🅽🅶🅷 🇮🇳 🅸🅽🅳🅸🅰 (@Mo_disaster_2) August 1, 2019

Is it an official adaptation of 'Man, woman and child' or just another Bollywood copy without giving any credit to the original?

— Lycan (@DesiDarinda) August 1, 2019

Featuring actors Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, and Saeed Jaffery, Masoom followed a couple’s problems after it was revealed that the man’s affair had bourne a child.