Netflix has responded to filmmaker Soham Shah's allegations that Squid Game was “taken” from his film Luck.
Filmmaker Soham P Shah, known for directing Kaal, has filed a federal lawsuit against Netflix in New York, alleging that the popular Korean show is a “blatant copy” of his Hindi film, Luck (2009). Netflix has responded to the allegations and denied Soham’s plagiarism claims.
As reported by Hindustan Times, the OTT giant, reacting to the allegations, said, “This claim is baseless. Squid Game was created and written by Hwang Dong Hyuk and we intend to defend this matter vigorously.”
As reported by TMZ, in the lawsuit, Shah claimed that the plot of Squid Game was “borrowed” from the story of his 2009 film, which starred Imran Khan, Shruti Haasan, and Sanjay Dutt. As reported by Agency, Shah said in his lawsuit, “The main plot, characters, themes, mood, setting, and sequence of events of Squid Game are strikingly similar to those of Luck, defying any likelihood that such similarities could be a coincidence.”
Shah also reportedly filed a lawsuit against Squid Game writer Hwang Dong-hyuk, alleging that the latter claimed to have written his version of the story in 2009, which was the year Luck was released globally. Shah further claimed that he wrote the story around 2006, and that the film was released in theaters worldwide in 2009.
Soham Shah's Luck starred an ensemble cast that included Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Danny Dengzongpa, Imran Khan, Shruti Haasan, Ravi Kishen and Chitrashi Rawat. The plot of Luck revolves around a group of indebted people who are selected to participate in a life-threatening tournament in which they must survive by performing dangerous tasks or die trying.
The Korean survival drama Squid Game centers on a group of 456 contestants, all of whom are struggling financially, who are invited to participate in a mysterious competition. Losing a game in this competition results in death. Shah filed the lawsuit around the show's second season's premiere on Netflix, which is scheduled for December 26.
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