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Q. Come September and there is always talk of Indian media and entertainment players being copycats (given that many songs have been inspired from the film Come September’s popular song). What’s your view? Are we a nation of copycats?
A. I have a feeling that a ‘copycat’ sobriquet to Indians wouldn’t be fully fair. There are countries (eg in the north of India) who are known for being such copycats. Indians may use a different term – inspired – for justifying such copying.
I am not denying that some/many in the Indian startup ecosystem are known for copying. But by that logic even global tech giants are known for such copying. One obvious fall-out of a copycat mentality is that it stifles innovation bones amongst entrepreneurs. Copying saves the trouble of solving real-life problems of real people. But it’s also time-consuming and getting the eureka moment may not happen frequently and business opportunities might be squandered. I know, and sadly so, there are many who defend the copying by saying that imitation is the best form of flattery.