EXCLUSIVE: Aadar Jain and Anya Singh’s Qaidi Band is suspiciously SIMILAR to Farhan Akhtar’s Lucknow Central

So today the trailer for Qaidi Gang was released and it looks very different from the usual YRF films that we have seen. Well, it is directed by Habib Faisal, known for making Do Dooni Char and Ishaqzaade. so the movie has that earthy texture. Aadar Jain, the grandson of the late showman Raj Kapoor, is being launched with this movie, along with Anya Jain, and a host of other newcomers. I could only recognise the brilliant veteran actor-director, Sachin Pilgaonkar, as the senior actor in there. The trailer told us that that the movie is about these undertrials who are all innocent by their own confession, and how they are made to start a band inside the jail. The music they produce suddenly makes them famous outside the jail confines, however this new found fame proves to be a double edged sword for their imminent freedom.

Wait, did I say they start a band inside a jail? Well, isn’t that the exact premise of another movie, starring a very popular actor-director-producer? If you are not aware of what I am saying, there is another movie in the works called Lucknow Central. In that movie, Farhan Akhtar plays the lead hero, and he plays a convict in Lucknow Central jail who forms a band within the premises. Said to be a comedy, the movie is directed by debutant Ranjit Tiwari and produced by Nikhil Advani. The movie also stars Diana Penty, Gippy Grewal, Deepak Dobriyal, Ronit Roy and Rajesh Sharma in crucial roles.

So how come both the movies have a similar premise. Now for Qaidi Band, director Habib Faisal is also credited as the writer, while Aseem Arora has penned Lucknow Central. Both movies are based on real life incidents. So what happened here?

Perhaps this quote of Nikhil Advani to a newspaper might help clear things up. He had said, “Ranjit came to me with a newspaper article about five inmates who wanted to escape prison and created a band. What happened subsequently to them and what is still going on is the story. It is inspired by a true story and it is a fascinating tale.”

It looks like the same article has also inspired Habib Faisal as well.

Bollywood is notoriously known for making movies simultaneously on the same theme. We all still remember the Bhagat Singh saga, when nearly half a dozen movies were being made on the freedom fighter with two even releasing on the same day (23 March 1923: Shaheed and The Legend of Bhagat Singh). Last year, both Aamir Khan and Salman Khan had movies where they played wrestlers (Dangal and Sultan). This year itself there are three rape revenge dramas in Bollywood in form of Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil, Raveena Tandon’s Maatr and Sridevi’s Mom. And now Luckow Central and Qaidi Gang will clash on the concept level.