The story of Bizim Aile.
One lazy afternoon, I stumbled upon this Yesilcam masterpiece, neatly tucked inside the vast inventory of Netflix.
Bizim Aile is the one of Director Ergin Orbey’s finest works and details the comic chronicles of a Turkish family, assorted by the union of two widowers.
The synopsis reads:
After a widower weds a widow, their blended family keeps everyone on their toes — but the trouble really starts when one son begins dating a rich girl.
I stopped and re-read the blurb a second time, which was insanely similar to one of my favorite Hindi Dramedies (Drama-Comedy) called ‘Khatta Meetha’ (sour n sweet) released in 1978. I had recently re-watched the Hindi classic, known as one of the best works of Indian cinema legend Basu Chatterjee. He’s credited for directing the film, as well as writing the story and screenplay. It stars Ashok Kumar as a Parsi widower, who marries the widow Pearl Padamsee, bringing together their children from previous marriages inside the same household.
I started watching Bizim Aile to brush up my rusty Turkish skills and found the dialogues and scenarios frame-by-frame alike Khatta Meetha.
We know that some filmmakers take after other filmmakers, lifting or getting inspired from their works. Some modify the original but credit the creator. Some license it and make it an official remake. There are examples even within Turkish cinema.
Raj Kapoor’s Awaara first had a dream run in the Turkish-dubbed version, and then remade with Turkish actors again, several times over. Every now and then, a localized version of ‘Awara hoon’ pops-up and ushers in nostalgia of the golden Yesimcam era. It’s part of the Turkish culture now.
But this was blatant plagiarism. I continued watching it, wondering if Basu Chatterjee had been wronged. After all, we loved his work, in Rajnigandha, Baton Baton Mein, Choti Si Baat, Shaukeen and many more.
And then I dived deeper.
To my surprise Bizim Aile was released in 1975, three years before Chatterjee’s Khatta Meetha. So Orbey couldn’t have copied Chatterjee’s work. It must’ve been the other way around. Moreover, the Turkish movie made sense, as it was similar as Orbey’s other works like Gel Barisalim or Merakli Köfteci.
A quick google search reveals allegations against Chatterjee for plagiarism. Many of his works were so-called ‘inspired’ from other movies. Shaukeen was ‘inspired’ from the 1962 American comedy Boys’ Night Out. 12 Angry Men was remade in Hindi as ‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisla’, and one of my absolute favorites ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ is a frame-by-frame copy of 1960 British movie School for Scoundrels.
I sat back pondering whether Chatterjee plagiarized Orbey’s work. It looked more than obvious now and shattered the once pristine image of the legend that belted out light-hearted tales of the Indian middle class.
The world remembers Basu Chatterjee as a master filmmaker. He’s done some amazing films. But some of that is based on movies by geniuses like Ergin Orbey. Khatta Meetha’s Wikipedia page says it was loosely based on the 1968 American movie Yours, Mine and Ours. There’s no mention of Orbey or his works what-so-ever.
During his time, Ergin Orbey was known as a prolific playwright, actor, director and screenwriter, who made concentrated efforts towards the development of Turkish theatre and cinema. He served as the chief of the State Theatre Directorate and the Director of the Ankara University Theatre Department. He also helped establish the Eskisehir Theatres.
He died on July 18, 2012 at the age of 75. But left a legacy of memorable characters and tales.
This is a nod to Orbey, and his likes, that brought out stories that touched people across boundaries. And resonate even now.
Pictures and Videos for representational purposes. Copyright with original owners.
