Chhoti Si Baat Inspired/Copied from School for Scoundrels

The movie Chhoti Si Baat Inspired/Copied from School for Scoundrels. School for Scoundrels is a 1960 British comedy film inspired by the “Gamesmanship” series of books by Stephen Potter. Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael) is a failure in sport and love, and the easy victim of conmen and employees alike. He enrolls at the “School of Lifemanship” in Yeovil, run by Dr. Potter (Alastair Sim), who teaches him how to win in life and get the better of his rival (Terry-Thomas). Chhoti Si Baat has copied almost all scenes from the movie. A few scenes/songs are added and some changes are made like tennis replaced by table tennis or car replaced by bike.

Here is the scene from School for Scoundrels where Henry plays tennis with his rival. There is a similar scene in Chhoti Si Baat where Amol Palekar and Asrani play table tennis.

 

Here is the scene from School for Scoundrels where Dr. Potter talks about the world being divided into winners and losers. There is a similar scene in Chhoti Si Baat where Ashok Kumar’s character says the same thing.

 

Here is the restaurant scene from School for Scoundrels which was also copied in Chhoti Si Baat.

 

You can watch the entire movie School for Scoundrels here. Scenes like Amol Palekar getting conned by the mechanics and getting back at them, Amol Palekar annoying Asrani at table tennis are all copied from here.

 

And here is Chhoti Si Baat for comparison.

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2 Comments
  1. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    watched it on fast forward, black and white films bore me anyway with the phony accent and the slow narrative. yes choti is si baat is copied a lot from it but i think choti si baat is more watchable

    • Author
      sputnik 11 years ago

      I don’t like B&W white films either but I was able to watch this in full. Its a British movie so it will have British accent. I loved the humor because it was very subtle in some scenes with the dialogues and also the mind games were brilliant.

      Chhoti Si Baat is more watchable probably coz it is set in India. Though copied it is is well made and has good performances by Ashok Kumar and Amol Palekar. The few scenes that have been added (not sure if from another movie) go well with the movie. It is a middle of the road movie just like Hrishikesh Mukerjee/Gulzar movies and I think these movies age well.

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