A sequence in Marvel’s Shang Chi which seems copied from Bajirao Mastani has got everyone talking

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films are one of the greatest examples of extravagant sets coalesced with gripping storylines. He has made exceptional period films and continues to do so. The scenes are so beautifully shot that one does not forget them so easily.

Probably why Reddit went on to claim recently that a very similar scene of Ranveer Singh in Bajirao Mastani was seen replicated in Marvel’s Shang Chi and The Legend Of Ten Rings.

The practice of Bollywood making exact copies of Hollywood scenes has been a trend for quite some time. But this is one of those rare times when a Hollywood film has been accused of doing so and hence it led to a heated debate on Reddit.

There is a section called Bolly Blinds N Gossip on a subreddit platform where users often share gossip and Bollywood news. Recently a fan was shell-shocked by an exact scene of the 2015 film Bajirao Mastani which sees Ranveer Singh riding in a horse captured in a long shot to transition into a close-up. It sees Ranveer using two swords in his war scene to shield himself from the arrows coming his way. The exact scene of the actor galloping on a horse matches with a shot in Shang Chi where Tony Leung is seen in the same scenario but instead of swords, he has 10 rings.

The post was shared and captioned on Reddit with,  “Recently found this …. this scene from Shang Chi was an exact replica of Bajirao Mastani ??? Thoughts.”

Soon conversation started taking place in the comments section and was flooded with- “When Flying Jatt copied X Men: First Class, it was butchered by everyone. Now no one bats an eye when this happens.” While someone defended Bollywood and mentioned, “This is a blatant copy but yet no one would have issues since it’s HW taking from BW.” While some took it as a joke and commented, “They took revenge for all the scenes we copied.”

The discussion then led to a fact that such scenes have already been portrayed in Chinese films way before Bajirao Mastani, “Cause it has been seen a lot of times in Chinese movies waaaay before Bajirao Mastani.”

While someone else went on to add, “It is a standard Wuxia genre thematic shot. Hero being a very good example. Both Bollywood and Hollywood used it to show the power of their superheroes.”

Bajirao Mastani was a 2015 blockbuster period production that had Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in the lead.Shang Chi and the Legend Of Ten Rings featured Simu Liu, Awkwafina, and Michelle Yeoh. This was also the first Marvel film that had an unconventional Asian actor leading the film.