A few weeks ago, we posted the trailer for a Bollywood action film called Baaghi, directed by Sabbir Khan and starring Tiger Shroff. The trailer is pretty exciting and showcases some solid looking martial arts from its star, but there was more than a passing similarity to Indonesian action juggernaut, The Raid: Redemption. At the time we noted the similarities, saying,
While it certainly looks to have a ton of plot and lovey dovey junk in the trailer, Baaghi also appears to have a soft spot for The Raid: Redemption/Dredd with a reference to a building that must be taken floor-by-floor through multiple armies of assassins.
Apparently we, along with thousands of others who made similar connections, were not wrong, and according to a report from the Times of India the film has met with legal trouble from Sikhya Entertainment, who had been developing an Indian remake of The Raid: Redemption. Sikhya, a company owned and operated by producers Guneet Monga (The Lunchbox) and Anurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur), sent a notice to the producers of Baaghi noting the similarities between their project.
As reported by Spotboye, Sabbir Khan denies the similarities, saying,
“We’ve worked extensively on the action sequences and ours is an entirely original film. I’ve heard about The Raid: Redemption but haven’t seen it. Ours is essentially a romantic film. This kind of comparison only takes away from the hard work of my team.”
However, Tiger Shroff acknowledged as early as March 16th that the Gareth Evans's Raid films were a big influence, and enjoyed the comparison.
“Yes, The Raid: Redemption was one of our reference points and ours is a film similar in nature, especially the whole part of the villain in the building.”