Remakes Vs Original !
Its a risky game for filmmakers to go for remaking old hit and remarkable films. Its a risky not only in terms of success or failure but in terms of changes also. This is obvious when original film is made audience dont have a clue about the product and they see it with curiosity and something click and film become hit as was the case with original Don. Later everything associated with the Don became important and stylish. This is true also. Its poster showing Amitabh running on railway track was wonderful. If Amitabh Bachchan is denoted by Horse in Chinese sunsigns then its perfectly right as he runs tilting his body with a slight angle like a horse runs. Horse body is not in straight line when it runs and same is case with AB. it was wonderfully beautiful to see AB running in dotted sleeveless coloured jacket on light coloured shirt. It was a style statement. Khai ke paan banaras wala was added later and it was played on first step for whole year in Super hit programme Binaca Geetmala presented by Ameen Sayani. It was a record in itself. To watch the dance of AB in this song is unparralleled in Indian hindi cinema. No other dance is so energetic as he has done in this song. He is not a trained dancer but this dance brings out blast of energy. Now Farhan Akhtar was in a tough situation, he wanted to keep this song and yet wanted to give his touch. Dont know how will be the song and dance in viewing but in hearing this song does not match with the original. S.A.Loy trio might have given nice songs in recent past but they could not bring same energy in their composed song like original song. Udit Naryan’s voice and singing style does not match with Kishor Kumar’s energetic singing.
Don can be discussed later when so many people will see it.
But filmmakers should take single path, either they keep everything present in original intact and if they wish to bring changes then they should not give same title to their remakes. Then they can claim theirs is an inspired version of the old. But they want sweet in both hands. They wish to generate curiosity by claiming that they are making remake of old film but change almost whole concept of old film.
Devdas :
Now see Devdas of Bimal Roy. Its not the case that filmmakers did not extract the plot before Sanjay Bhansali declared to make a remake. Muqudar Ka Sikandar’s AB Rekha part is almost Devadas-chandramukhi version of Devdas. Even scene where AB goes first time to cotha of Johra Bai is similar. But Prakash Mehra did not claim he is remaking Devdas. He took few shades of character -Devdas in MQS and Sharabi.
S Bhansali made his version of Devdas and under the pressure of looking different he changed the original spirit of the film and the novel on which all devdas films are based. In original plot Paro’s family is very poor but Bhansali’s Paro lives in a mansion which may be only about 10-20 % less than the rich Devdas’s house. Its different that in that big mansion bed is broken when a dramatic Kiran kher jump on it to lie. Plot of Devdas does not permit much melodrama, it works in subtle way but Bhansali made new Devdas as war of dialogues and high profiled drama. Every change is digestible including nautanki wali acting of Kiran Kher and Preeti Khare but then Bhansali could have given different title to the film. Its inspired by Devdas, its not Devdas.
Baghban:
Not many will be knowing that Baghban is remake of (or its inspired by?) an old film “Chhoti Chhoti Batein”. CCB was produced and directed by Motilal, one of the first actor to bring reality and natural touch in acting in those days of dramatic theatrical acting. He played the lead role which AB played in Baghban. Nadira played the lead role against him, though in CCB she is not wife of Motilal but they become friend and this angle is recently shown in Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia’s Pyar mein twist.
Both Bimay Roy’s Devdas and Motilal’s CBB are senistive and true to the demand of the story unlike Bhansali’s Devdas and Ravi Chopra’s Baghban.
Shloay: now RGV is claiming to remake Sholay but he has changed a lot and is doing daily some changes and its better he calls it inspired by Sholay and not a remake of Sholay. He must use different name for his film if he respects older Sholay as he claims. There is no dearth of good titles. He has done in Sarkar same thing. He did not claim to remake Godfather but shown it as inspired by Coppola’s film and this was the right way. He must follow the same path again.
PNC and Rituparno Ghosh declared to remake Guide without taking permission of DevAnand. They can make a film based on the Novel written by R K Narayana but they cant make remake of Vijay and Dev Anand. This was their hard work and they had visualised scenes in that particular way.
But Hindi film Industry works like that only. When Shakti was going to be released than on same time and perhaps 1 weeks before or after, a film of Jeetndra “ Farz aur Kanoon” was released which was having same story.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Remakes is what this industry is good for, with all due respect Indian Cinema has been copying westerm movies for year’s and i think this is where the dislike for remakes comes from.
Past remakes proved that we do a quick and cheap version, sorry not giving examples here but running out of time. But directors have taken the easy option in the past but as times change new and better writers and directors are coming out who are handling remakes with care and the attention it deserves. As much as I dislike remakes I do think it can work.
You need to be clear in your mind what you wish to achieve with your movie.
Sholay being remade in todays day and age will be interesting to see. Don works because it fit’s with the fast technology era and Umrao Jaan – well verdict’s still out on this one but i won’t hold my breath!
Sangeeta
Most of the Bond movies are made again and again, like new Rolye casino is remake but here a single Company holds the rights of making Bond films and they make them with incorporation of new elements, new actors and new technology.
Re: Sholay, if RGV keeps every character in his version as they were in original film and keeps story intact no matter what background he selects for his characters and what geography he selects. Because its not Ramgarh village which is synonymous with Sholay but its characters. If he decides no I will not kill Jai but Veeru will be killed in end, Basanti will marry Jai, Thakur will not be able to kill Gabbar but opposite will happen then he cant cal it remake of Sholay. It will certainly be interesting to see his version.
Sangeeta regarding your statement that this industry is good for making remakes of hollywood only, I w’d like to use sayings of Shekhar Kapur. He has said it again and again that even Hollywood copies from rest of the world movies.
India’s better movies are not copy of Hollywood.
RK first of all the screenplay of farhan’s don is adapted from the original. you are reacting like this because someone was upfront in sayin that he is remaking don.adapting & remaking is a general thing which happens in bollywood. i mean why shouldn’t someone remake a film if he wants to make it from his perspective.
Rony,
I have no problem with remaking of Don. Don was written by Salim Javed and directed by Chandra Barot. If all three are ready ready to remake it and if Chandra Barot himself does not wish to do remakes and trio give green signal to farhaan, its Ok for me. Afterall inside also remakes have been made by borrowing films of other language.
Only points I find objectionable I expressed in article with examples of Devdas and Sholay.
Naikan was inspired by God Father but Mani Ratnam named it Naikan, Feroz Khan was inspired by Naykan but named his film as dayawan and made from his perspectives. It worked or not, its different matter. Now there are more than 2 Anna Karenina’s and Lolitas with different treatments but story has not been changed as was done with Bhansali’s Devdas.
When he made Black then he wrote in the begining of film that its inspired by story of helen keller but he did not mention anywhere that its inspired by a hollywood film based on life of helen keller though few scenes are straight lifted from that film. This is the point. Either you copy scene by scene and then claim it remake and if you change the original spirit then call it inspired version and not remake. Don is not under question at present as I have not see the new one. I commented on the song Khai ke paan banaras wala only.
Erm inspiration is seeked from everywhere I agree but majority of indian movies have been copied without copyright permissions!
And Bond movies are a follow on – they provide a new mission for Bond .. it’s not a remake.
Chhoti Chhoti Batein, eh? So Avtar was inspired by that film and the Baghbhan was inspired by both films..:-?
i’ve not seen choti choti baatein but baghban was a total disaster in my opinion. I can’t believe Water and Babul are being compared!
seriously.. baghban should be second on the list in the post titled “stupid movies that became hits”.. the first should be “no entry” ~X(
“But filmmakers should take single path, either they keep everything present in original intact and if they wish to bring changes then they should not give same title to their remakes.”
Any idea is supposed to germinate from what he/she has seen/read or heard in the past. Now if a film-maker like a story and wants to tell it his way making the changes that he/she feels is necessary to fit his visualization, then why not? Allright not the Sanjay Gupta way but improviazation can be done and presented to suit the current trend…
For the first time i guess I liked Taxi No. 9211 better than changing lanes and it was probably a very neat copy of the original.
I agree with ravptor, if a film maker hopes he could present it in a better way or in the way which appeals to the current audience he can go along and make a movie.
I wish to say instead of saying that the movie is better or worse than the original, see the other factors, as in how the director presented the movie or did the actor do enough justice etc.
For eg. take Don, I dont agree with people saying that Shahrukh cannot take Amitabh’s boots but surely can say if he has done enough justice to his role.
Just see the remade movies like any other movie and give a judgement instead of comparing.
I dont think a scene by scene remake of a film doesn’t do any good for a film.Why should I watch a film if I know everything is going to be same as the good old one? Well you can call it as a “remake” or “update” or “inspired”,but seeing an old story from a different perspective is always exciting.I cannot understand this chavaunistic debate of old classics should not be remade nor a certain person should not be cast.When I spoke to my friends,everybody is talking about the remakes of Don or Sholay and everybody has issues with remake of those two films and surprisingly no body cared about Umraojan remake.I for myself consider Umraojan is as classic as Sholay.It makes me think whether people are insecure that their favourite actor/actress/movie lose their/it star status if the new film is good/better than original? Or is it just mass hysteria? Well if the new film is worst/good let it be,atleast it gives you rich cinematic experience on how the story looks like from a different perspective.Take the example of Infernal Affairs,both the movies rock but still shows you how different the same story can be.Then why are we so harsh on remaking old hindi movies?Well you cannot say, since Valmiki’s Ramayana is a classic no body should re write it.R.K. Narayan has a different way of telling the same story and so does Jonah Blank has.Which one you like,is your choice.