The Netflix cash cow “Squid Game” is a blatant ripoff of a movie that was released more than a decade earlier in India … at least according to a new lawsuit.
Netflix is being sued by a man named Soham Shah, who claims he is the creator of the 2009 Hindi-language Indian film “Luck” … which he says served as a blueprint for the hit 2021 streaming series “Squid Game.”
According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the “Squid Game” franchise straight-up jacked the storyline from Shah’s movie … because “Luck” is a story about a group of desperate, indebted people enticed to take part in a series of competitive games for the chance to win large sums of money.
Shah says in “Luck,” it’s only after characters start competing that they realize losing any of the challenges means death — and that the death of a fellow participant also increases the pot of money available to the remaining contestants.
In the documents, Shah says his “Luck” story also features wealthy onlookers gambling on the players and reveling in the high-stakes competition … while the participants themselves struggle to stay alive, and grapple with their own morality under extreme conditions.
For anyone who has seen “Squid Game” … this sounds a lot like the same plot.
Thing is … Shah claims he wrote his story in or around 2006 … and he says in July 2009 the movie version was released worldwide in theaters in India, the United Kingdom, the United States and the UAE.
Shah says “Squid Game” writer Hwang Dong-hyuk, who is also being sued, claimed to have first written his story in 2009 … the same year “Luck” was released in theaters.
Shah claims Netflix had access to seeing “Luck” at the time, due to its “considerable advertising and marketing” … so he thinks it’s no surprise they ended up producing “Squid Game” in 2018 or 2019.
Netflix, Shah claims, says the company’s market value increased by over $900 million as a result of “Squid Game,” its most-watched show … and Shah’s going after the streaming giant for a slice of the pie — and wants to block Netflix from infringing his “Luck” copyright.
We reached out to Netflix … so far no word back.