Was thinking of rewatching the Bollywood classic Chhoti si Baat last night, and discovered that it was a remake of the British comedy School for Scoundrels. This piece of information had somehow eluded me over the years it seems.
Found the British original on archive.org, and gave it a watch. It was quite entertaining, and it is easy to see the inspiration for many of the iconic scenes in Chhoti si Baat ranging from the restaurant scene to the table tennis match (lawn tennis in the original) to the bike sale (car in the original) to the climax and ending scene.
The core message of sincerity winning out at the end remains the strong point for both, though the colonel’s character is not as sympathetic in the original. Ultimately, both movies are classics in their own ways.
Incidentally, the 2 memorable restaurant scenes in Chhoti si Baat were actual restaurants in Bombay/Mumbai. The “Peter se kaho” restaurant was the cafe in Jahangir Art gallery, while the Chinese one was Flora near Worli sea face. I had wanted to visit and dine in both during my time in Mumbai. Unfortunately both closed down before I got the opportunity, so have to make do with the movie scenes.
