Netflix accused of copying Indian movie for Squid Game

As Netflix prepares to release the second season of "Squid Game" later this year, filmmaker Soham Shah has filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York, accusing the company of blatantly copying his Hindi-language film "Luck".

Shah's movie revolves around "a group of desperate, indebted individuals lured into participating in a series of competitive games with the promise of winning large sums of money," only to discover that losing the games results in death, he said in the lawsuit filed on Sept. 13.

"The main plot, characters, themes, mood, setting, and sequence of events in 'Squid Game' are strikingly similar to those in Luck, making it highly unlikely that such similarities could be coincidental," he said as cited by Bloomberg.

Shah claims that he wrote his story around 2006, with the film released globally in July 2009, showing in theaters across India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the UAE.

In response to the lawsuit, a Netflix spokesperson stated, "This claim has no merit. 'Squid Game' was created and written by Hwang Dong-hyuk, and we intend to defend this matter vigorously," the Hindustan Times reported.

Hwang stated that he wrote his story in 2009, the same year "Luck" was released.

The South Korean dystopian drama "Squid Game" gained global recognition for its intense narrative and social commentary when it was released in 2021. The series follows a group of desperate individuals deeply in debt who are invited to participate in a mysterious survival game with a massive cash prize. However, the participants soon discovered that losing any of the children's games would result in their death. The show explores themes of economic disparity, the dark side of human nature, and the extreme lengths people will go to escape poverty, all set against the backdrop of a brutal and suspenseful competition.

The series became Netflix’s most successful launch, costing US$21 million to produce and garnering 1.65 billion hours of viewership within just four weeks. It remained one of Netflix's most popular shows for months, with the company announcing in July that the second season will be released on Dec. 26, followed by a third and final season in 2025.

While the final judgment on this matter is pending, viewers can watch the Hindi film "Luck" on Prime Video or YouTube for free, while the Emmy-winning K-drama is available for streaming on Netflix.