British writer Geoffrey Archer, whose books are very popular in India, recently passed away. He had completed work on his latest novel 'Adam and Eve,' which was reportedly ready for publication, but his life was cut short before that.
Archer, who was a fan of R.K. Narayan, had a complex relationship with India. Despite frequent visits and the immense popularity of his works in the country, his experience interacting with the Indian film industry proved to be extremely negative. At one point, he directly called Bollywood a 'gang of thieves.'
In a 2015 interview, Archer leveled accusations against Bollywood for appropriating plots from his books. He stated that this 'gang of thieves' took his works without permission. He paid particular attention to the films 'Ladies Versus Ricky Bahl' and 'Selfish.'
While discussing adaptations of his famous novel 'Only Time Will Tell' (2011) with Hollywood and Bollywood production companies at the time, he claimed that many Hollywood companies showed interest in purchasing the rights to his books. However, his impressions of the Indian film industry were far from positive; he stated that he did not wish to deal with a 'second-rate foolish Bollywood' that called itself a star producer but was not one.
Archer alleged that the film 'Ladies Versus Ricky Bahl' (2011), directed by Manish Sharma, was based on his 1976 novel 'Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less.' Both works tell stories about people deceived by a scammer who tries to teach him a lesson. Ranveer Singh played the role of the scammer in the film, whereas in the original novel, the victims were men, but in the movie they were portrayed as women played by Anushka Sharma, Dipanita Sharma, and Parineeti Chopra. This role was Parineeti Chopra's debut. The film was released under the aegis of Yash Raj Films, and Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma reunited in it, having previously starred together in the film 'Band Baaja Baaraat' (2010).
Furthermore, Archer accused Rakesh Roshan of being inspired by his book for his film 'Khudgarz' (1987). According to him, this film is based on his famous 1979 novel 'Kane and Abel.'
Despite his criticism of Bollywood, Geoffrey Archer's interest in India never faded. In subsequent years, he transferred the rights to official screen and television adaptations of his books to Indian producers. For instance, producer Sheetal Talwar acquired the rights to stories from Archer's novels 'First Among Equals' (1984) and the collection 'A Twist in the Tale' (1988) for the project 'A La Carte' for approximately 1.5 million rupees. Additionally, film director Hansal Mehta also negotiated with Archer regarding the purchase of rights to 'Kane and Abel,' although this deal never materialized.
Interestingly, in 2015, Archer planned to write a new book about India, centered on a Bollywood actress. This eight-chapter novel was intended to cover the world of the Indian film industry, but it was never completed either. Nevertheless, Archer's popularity in India remained very high, and due to mass piracy, he earned the nickname 'Lord of Paper Books.'