'Ship Of Theseus' bears resemblance to a short film?

New Delhi: Just when the country had started marvelling over Anand Gandhi's surreal 'Ship Of Theseus' and lauding independent cinema in India comes the news that the film is actually 'inspired' from a short film.

The film which has three stories has apparently taken inspiration for one its track from a short film made by Akram Hassan back in 2006 as a student of London Film Academy.

The news was initially reported by a popular film blog called moifightclub. The story can be found here.

In Hassan's film, a visually challenged painter finds it difficult to paint after she is able to see. The protagonist then injures her eyes only to create her masterpiece. In Gandhi's film, a photographer named Aaliya (played by Aida El-Kashef) who is visually impaired, undergoes a cornea transplant that restores her vision. Post surgery, Aaliya finds it difficult to pursue her passion highlighting the paradox that with her vision back her art gets affected.

While the internet is abuzz with whether Anand Gandhi's 'Ship Of Theseus' is plagiarised, the filmmaker himself has refuted the allegation and stated in his blog, "Firstly, an accusation of this kind is highly disappointing, not because of its pettiness but because of its complete incapability in gathering relevant information. It's complacent, vacuous and sensationalist and a representation of the state of faux film enthusiasm masquerading as commentary in, well, Versova."

The 32 year old director states that he took inspiration from the celebrated Swedish photographer Evgen Bavcar's story who, inspite of being visually impaired, masters her art.

"In fact, a small capsule of our research work with a Mumbai-based blind photographer has been made available online for a while now," added Anand, who began writing his script in 2007.

Here is the link to Akram Hassan's 2009 movie 'Bereft of Colours' and the trailer of Anand Gandhi's 'Ship Of Theseus'. Have a look at the two videos and decide for yourself. Do you think Gandhi has lifted the idea from Hassan's film?

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