Don & Kurosawa
I never really thought I would utter these two words in the same breath. This is something I have been thinking about for a while and discussing with friends, so just thought I’d put it out there for you guys to weigh in on as well.
Chandra Barot & Salim-Javed’s “Don” and Akira Kurosawa’s epic masterpiece “Kagemusha” (The Shadow Warrior) share similar plots, albeit housed in completely different settings. Both films are about a powerful man who dies, and a good-for-nothing look-alike is sent in his place to keep his death a secret. In “Kagemusha”, the replacement strategy is planned well in advance, and when the warlord dies, his generals send in his double, a petty theif, and train him to act like his deceased “predecessor”, so enemies do not learn of the death, and attack the leaderless clan.
When my friend and I watched “Kagemusha” together, he immediately jumped to the conclusion that Salim-Javed had stolen the idea from Kurosawa’s film. After all, “Sholay was essentially a re-working of Seven Samurai” he argued.
BUT, a quick online reference showed me that “Kagemusha”, was completed in 1980, a full 2 years after “Don”, which was completed in 1978. Was Kurosawa watching Bachchan?
Maybe, maybe not. The question I wanted to put out to you guys is whether any of you know the source of the basic idea for this plot line? Kurosawa, despite being the greatest filmmaker to ever walk the face of this earth (in my opinion at least), was also known for borrowing stories and making great films out of them. “Ran” was Shakespeare’s King Lear, “Throne of Blood” was Macbeth, and of course, his adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot into a film of the same name, set in Japan’s post-war era.
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- Interesting comparison. Never thought of Don in that sense. There though exists a fundamental difference. In Kagemusha the look alike was sent to protect the kingdom, while in Don, the look alike’s sent in to destroy the gang. The other difference is that the caretakers of the kingdom bring in the lookalike to protect themselves from the enemy. Whereas in Don it’s the enemy (cops) that send the lookalike in the gang to decimate it.
Don’t think that Kurosawa watched Don to be inspired, but then anything is possible and for a moment it’s a good feeling that someone was watching Bollywood for inspiration.
Very interesting! I have always believed that Kagemusha could have been inspired by our own “Prataparudha-Yugandhara” episode. Twist in the tale is, the Don remake in Telugu was titled “Yugandhar”. Thanks for the write up, Vijay!
- WB, I need to dive into our ancient texts before I land in Australia…
-Oz, on the contrary, you should come to AU to read up the ancient texts (with foot notes and “vishesh tippani” from yours sincerely).
kurosawa as u have suggested has stuck to literature/fiction for cinematic adaptations… which in my opinion is a fair game .. If there are a 100 theatrical adaptations of shakespeare then why can’t there be the same in cinema…
Although i doubt very much kurosawa would’ve borrowed stories from other films. If he had to, he would’ve rather done it from satyajit ray (of whom he is said to have said “Not having seen satyajit ray’s cinema is like living in the world without having seen sun and moon”)…
My point is that if he had to borrow a story … he would rather do it from literature … and not from fellow film makers (unlike Farhaan akhtars, OP Duttas, ramus, Sanjay guptas). Of course the similarity between Don and kagemusha could be a co-incidence …
WB – im doing a google search righhtaway on the same “Prataparudha-Yugandhara” right now !!! Thanks dude
Read somewhere that Don was inspired from a hollywood b-grader – House of Secrets
Pranshu, you are right. “House of Secrets” is a lesser known movie from 1956 where the lead hero is asked to infiltrate a French forgery ring by the CIA because he looks like one of the people who works for them.
- OZ, KK, Apologies for another irrtating typo – the king was Prataparudra.
Actually, Kurosawa already got his story for Kagemusha during the mid-70s. He didn’t get any one to finance his film Kagemusha. So he already painted the story board during the late 70s. Finally George Lucas helped him w/ the $$, with some help from Fox Studios.
Also:
“Much of the film recounts actual historical events, including Shingen’s death and the two-year secret, and the climactic Battle of Nagashino in 1575. Those scenes are also modeled closely on detailed accounts of the battle”