The South Korean movie Parasite has received critical acclaim, and the awards to back it up, from all corners.
But one producer, PL Thenappan, of a 1999 Tamil film is not smiling.
Thenappan was reportedly furious at the similarities between the Korean movie and his 1999 film, Minsara Kanna.
Speaking with India Today, Thenapan states that he is in "talks with international lawyers and contemplating on filing a case against the makers of Parasite soon".
He also felt the Korean film stole the crux of his own 1999 film.
The director of Minsara Kanna, while stating that there were similarities between the films, said he was happy for the Korean film's success.
A love story
India Today's summary of the film is as such:
"Minsara Kanna, directed by KS Ravikumar, follows the story of a man who falls in love with a woman. His family, hailing from a rich background, hatches a plan to work in the lover's house to seek approval of her family."
Here's another Wikipedia summary that might ring a bit more familiar.
"Indra Devi (Kushboo), the elder sister of Ishwarya (Monica Castelino), is a rich and arrogant entrepreneur. Priya (Rambha) is her personal assistant. All three of them live in Udhagamandalam (Ooty). Kannan (Vijay) is the only son of a multi-billionaire Devanathan (Manivannan), and has fallen in love with Ishwarya after meeting her in Germany.
But after hearing about Indra Devi’s over protective nature towards Ishwarya, Kannan comes to India with his family to somehow convince her under the guise of being a bodyguard to Indra’s family. His younger brother Vetri (Mahendran) works as a servant boy, and his sister serves as a cook for Indra Devi's family."
Which has spawned online reactions and memes.
Inspiration
'Parasite' director Bong has actually talked about the inspiration behind the film.
According to an article by The Hollywood Reporter, Bong had served as a young boy's math tutor in his early 20s.
That family had been incredibly wealthy, and Bong had been introduced by his then-girlfriend, now wife, who had already been tutoring the boy in English.
Which led Bong to this conclusion:
"They wanted another tutor for math, so she put me forward as a trustworthy friend, even though I was actually really bad at math," Bong explains. "That's how it works with those jobs. It's not as if they put out lots of ads looking for domestic help — you're introduced."
Which, if you haven't watched the show, is borderline spoiler territory.
You can watch the full film here to judge for yourself.
Image from Parasite and Minsara Kanna