The Question of the Remake
One of the biggest problem that plagues Bollywood is the rampant plagiarism which is sadly seeped into it’s very essence. Everyone of us probably has war stories to tell of this particular affliction which we affectionately used to call DVDitis. I have two to share.
The first incident happened around the time we were doing costume trials for “Eklavya.” We had gone to meet Jimmy Shergill (who is one of the sweetest people I know) at the Marriot coz we needed to take some pictures of his own clothes which he wanted to wear in the film. He had some meetings in the hotel so he asked us to come over. Over coffee and general chit chat I happened to spy a DVD on the adjacent table covered by a piece of paper. I picked it up and it was a copy of the Cassel/Belucci starrer “The Apartment”.
What was really awesome was the paper. It was a printout of the pitch they had just made to Jimmy and it was mindblowing to use AB’s fav phrase. They had copied the summary from the back of the DVD and had replaced Cassel’s name wherever it appeared with Jimmy’s. That was the extent of the pitch and the basis on which he was supposed to decide whether to do the film or not. I looked at Jimmy quizzically and he just rolled his eyes at me. Dunno if the film eventually got made or not with or without Jimmy.
The other incident borders on the surreal. A certain nameless director held a press conference to announce his new project which was a remake of then just theatrically released film. When asked by the journos why is he remaking that particular film and not working from an original script, he said that since he has watched it first day first show while in the States he was entitled to remake it before anybody else in Bollywood.
Whenever we wanted to find out the buzz about the Industry our best bet was always to pop over to Sarvodya in Khar and the boys would happily tell us which films were currently on the verge of being remade. The last time I went there “Infernal Affairs” was thermonuclear hot with 3 versions being planned. However Scorsese beat everyone to it albeit in a legitimate manner. For the record though I still prefer the original over the remake primarily I think coz the denouement in “The Departed” was a bit of a cop out with Damon paying for his sins. Seemed too pat to me.
DVDitis has now reached epidemic proportions in Bollywood with things being so bad that most of the times we can identify the source material by just watching the trailer. I happen to think that there is nothing wrong in remaking a film provided the filmmaker can bring his own individual vision to the film. Of course remaking a beloved and perfect film often leads to disaster as was the case recently with “Sholay”. Of course when I say I don’t have a problem I mean it provided it’s a legitimate remake with the rights paid for in full. Happily enough whenever there arises the need to remake a regional language film in Hindi or vice versa the proper protocol is observed.
Non Indian language cinema is however another matter altogether. As far as I know there has not been a single Hindi film which has bought the rights for a remake though I did hear that Rohan Sippy has bought the rights for “The Departed”. Would be really interested in seeing his take on it.
I have always been amazed at the cojones of folks who claim authorship of something they have not created and pass it off as their own baby. I mean I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I was to receive praise or accolades for something which I hadn’t done. I think any person with a modicum of self respect would feel the same. But what really gets my goat are those great individuals who when confronted with irrefutable proof of their duplicity take refuge in the argument that originality is over rated. GRRRRRRR.
I mean forget just using the story, concept or even the script, these dudes even use the same frigging camera angles,movement, blocking, costumes and even the same hairstyles. You could compare frames from the two films and they would be identical with the only difference being the actors and in a lot of cases a horrendous dumbing down of the original script.
Me and my buddies have pondered many a night, with the help of industrial amounts of alcohol and other frowned upon substances, the reasons for this malaise and the our conclusion
scares the shit out of us. Anybody seen the classic “Soylent Green” ? The truth to this mystery might be as ghastly and disturbing.
All of us cringe and complain over the lack of original scripts and good writers but that is not the case. There are some very good writers and awesome scripts around but most of them will never see the light of the day and the situation ain’t gonna improve anytime soon either. I wish to be proven wrong quite a few times and none more so in this case. The reason I’m not optimistic is that most of the people I have met who are either established filmmakers or budding filmmakers have a distinct lack of vision and visual acumen. In other words they are incapable of adapting the written word to the screen so they fall back on films in existence rather than crafting something new and original.
And the problem isn’t just with the directors mind you. It extends to producers, actors, choreographers, etc etc. Both above and below the line. Why is this the case I have no clue.
It’s easy to dismiss this as a lack of talent but that would be oversimplifying the issue. I mean I have been on sets where the DVD of the film being remade is played right next to the video assist for things as interpretive as composition, eyelines and performance. Surely somebody who has gotten to a position to actually be able to direct / produce / act in a film is capable enough to visualize and imagine what needs to be done for a particular scene.
I have nothing against remakes if the source material is properly acknowledged and credited. After all adapting any story into the local context is tough enough job in itself and leaves ample room for creativity. After all William Monahan did win the Oscar for his adaptation of “Infernal Affairs”. Another great example would be “Manorama” which takes the germ of the idea from “Chinatown” and then goes on to create it’s own vivid and compelling world and characters.
I have to admit that if I ever do decide to direct a feature, my dream debut would be a remake of my favorite children’s film in a new dark and twisted avtaar. For fanboys the thrill of remaking our favorite films is to relive our cherished childhood memories. Peter Jackson did Kong and the Wachowski’s are doing “Speed Racer”.The most high profile remake is the rebooted Batman franchise with “The Dark Knight” by the fabulous Chris Nolan who is a genius at both adapting from literary sources as well as existing films.
I drank myself silly recently on a bottle of Sake to celebrate upon hearing the news of the upcoming “Robotech” live action remake. Otakus all around the world are giving thanks to their respective Gods for this manna from heaven. As my best buddy of 20 years who is a recently married businessman in Delhi put it when I told him “I can die happy now”.
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Agree with you Mithun. I think we Indians are just mentally lazy and prefer to take shortcuts…
I may be stretching a point too far here but this mental laziness is not limited to just movies. I mean our huge IT industry hardly has any product companies worth their salt. Our pharma companies make monies out of copying generic drugs whose patents expire.
Why waste time and effort on originality when one can make a quicker and easier buck…?
But still I feel that there are aspects to our movie making which are original. Our lyricists do produce a lot of good work. Our music directors copy, but a lot of original work does come out of them. Our song and dance sequences surprise us once in a while and so do our cinematographers, increasingly in recent memory.
Yes, but we sorely lack directors with original vision and talented writers.
Hear! Hear!
Robotech is gonna be awesome. WETA is conceptualizing the whole movies planned as a trilogy. And there are rumors abound that Tobey Macguire is headlining it. Have you ever noticed that a majority of films made in Hollywood with a little bit of the indie scene thrown in are borrowed from already established source material. They even can spin stories from bloody news articles. I think the process of working in the Indian film industry is screwed up. It’s a closed niche. I’ll elaborate when I write a whole article on this.
Mithun,
While agreeing about the general lack of vision among directors here, I do feel there is also a lack of writers around, in my personal experience.
I’ve been trawling around the past few months for scripts and most of the writers I’ve met seem to only have loose synopsis type concepts at best (DVD back covers?). The number of times I’ve heard half an idea (’I'm still working out the second half’) is appalling.
If there’s great undiscovered writers out there with great undiscovered scripts, I certainly haven’t met them (yet).
Any of you reading this, get in touch!
@ Navdeep,…its the wrong people meeting the wrong people. Thats it ! If you are game, email me,…but show me your first feature b4 we talk. If you are good, you will be in luck ! Cheers !
Navdeep, i sent you my script some time back…still waiting for you to tell me that its crap!
the biggest problem in the movie industry is that instead of being creative people or natural storytellers, so many of them are are mere fanboys. they love movies, and that is the sole reason they make movies. so whenever they run out of money to buy more DVDs, they pick up some random existing movie to make and earn some money so that they can continue to fulfill their desire to watch more movies. i wouldn’t be against it if the rights were acquired legally or the filmmaker would add his or her own personal vision to the movie instead of just two or three item numbers. and some people have made a profession out of copying trashy movies. now why would someone copy a movie like derailed which was critically and commercially panned? and then make a frame to frame copy out of it?
but there are still some people though who do acnowledge their source material. i remember rituparno ghosh’s wonderful take on ‘the gift of the magi’ which was the movie raincoat. he did indeed included the line ‘inspired by o.henry’ at the end of the credits even though it did not matter because o. henry’s stories have already fallen into the public domain.
there was this news about sony taking to court the makers of partner for their hitch rip-off. i had really hoped that the producers would be made to pay out of their asses for their creative theft. and i really feel like kicking the actor’s or director’s arse black and blue when they come on the television and give long lectures about how piracy amounts to stealing…
There are only two type of filmmakers exists in India:
1) Businesswalleh
2) DVDCopywalleh
There are hardly any filmmakers out there that says, “I want to make a film”. Majority of them would say, “I want to make a film like that film”
In fact, many of people on PFC would request or say, “Indian directors should make a film like that or this film”
Navdeep, I’m sorry to say this. But passing the buck is not the answer. I know writers with great scripts. But they aspire to work with better directors.
Cy,
Ooh. Love your gratuitous attack. Ain’t the web sweet?
D&C, Shite!! Many apologies. Completely slipped my reading list. Will read and revert.
Playback: That’s 299 at your local store.
@ Navdeep, if you are saying this,then there apparently is a lack of good scripts doing the rounds in Bollywood.
How does one get in touch with you ?
Arun,
nopisinghATgmailDOTcom
It all depends on what u take away from a film.
Being inspired by a great film for most ppl is about being inspired by the plot or the sequences that make the film.
I think in the case of most gr8 films such a partial take-away is equivalent to not understanding the film at all. There is a soul that dictates a gr8 film, a philosophy that a director follows that makes a gr8 film truly gr8. If u get that soul or that philosophy correctly, then you are doing tru justice not just to the material u r inspired by, but also to the creative individual that resides within u..
That then is not plagiarism. It is careful dissection and shud be applauded..
The significance of “The seven Samurai” lies in the fact tat it was probably the first film to showcase a group of people assembled to carry out a common task. Once you understand that cinematic philosophy correctly u then proceed to unearth a lot of associated factors like group dyanmics, social obligations and moral correctness . Those philosophies that u unearth that way can then be put to gr8 use.
That is dissection of a gr8 film and not plagiarism and that shud be your primary take-away from a gr8 film..
@Navdeep
I think one of the main reasons for the paucity of good scripts is that since there are very few people in the industry who make their living solely as writers. Many of the fantastic writers I am lucky enough to call buddies harbor aspirations to direct and don’t wanna give their best work to someone else. That’s the reason perhaps that all the great scripts comes with a prospective director attached.
I was wondering if you could satisfy my curiosity about your development process. Is it correct to say that you would like to get your hands on a complete spec script rather than work with someone to flesh out a concept ?
Writing the script is probably the toughest job in filmmaking and it’s hell for both the director and writer involved if they don’t have the same sensibilities and tastes which I know all too well.
Waise might I be bold enough to suggest a subject which you might find intriguing. I would love to see someone do an adaptation of “Great Expectations” set in rural Punjab and Bombay.
@dazed
Well Im happy to say that all my contemporaries who will make their debuts within the next coupla years have vision and attitude to spare so expect to see cutting edge cinema soon enough.
@Saad
Fucking A dude. My balls are still tingling at the prospect of Lynn Minmay sing “We will Win” while the SDF kicks the Zentradi’s asses back into deep space. Protoculture forever !!!!!
@Playback
Dude surely ur not unaware of Manorama ? The inner nerd in me rejoices at the fact that they underexposed the neg 5 stops while shooting. Takes solid cojones dude.
@KJ
Sad but true. What I really find amazing now people rip off the titles along with the films so a film like Derailed becomes a film called “The Train” !!!!! I mean cmon guys.
@Honhaar
Dude that’s being too harsh. People like Raju Hirani and Vishal Bhardwaj are frighteningly talented individuals and their work reflects that.
@Cy
FYI Navdeep is one of the most sought after directors in the commercial arena. I know people who would give their left nut to work with him.
If I hadn’t gone to NY for film school I would have applied for a job with him coz back then I still wanted to be a director.
@ Mithun
Sometimes i would wish u would spend more time writing our script than chasing jap girls and blog on pfc and plz dont give me that crap again about wooing jap girls as ‘research’
I’ve had wet dreams about a Robotech movie all my life. But I am not too excited about the upcoming movie. Firstly, it is being made by the Americans so there goes any hope of the film being cannon. And secondly, Tobey Maguire, chhiiii.
When it comes to remakes, Hollywood filmmakers make two of the same mistakes as their copycat Indian counterparts: Dumbing down of the story and missing the point entirely. A greater crime they commit is the ‘Americanisation’ of the story. I’m thinking of Transformers here. Never saw the original series but I am sure giant robots had a greater role than they did in Michael Bays version. Mr. Bay thought it important to educate the viewers on the nuances of American life. And also to show us just how nice these US army fellows are, when they are not torturing Iraqi civilians. There were some scenes that made me pretty uncomfortable, like when some Defence guy addresses college students. I could see a subliminal message there:”It’s cool to help the Army. It’s cool to fight for your country.”. Finally, like Independence Day, and countless other disaster films America saves the world in the end. Yeah right, what with that loony in safed makaan and his bombs.
Other notable mentions: The Ring, Infernal Affairs, Ju On.
One thing I like about anime is how it never forces anything down your throat. The best series out there (Naruto, Bleach, Death Notsu, Robotech, Hellsing, GiTS… to name a few) are completely free of such emotions as nationalism and patriotism. They don’t ask you to wave the Japanese flag. There’s no mind control here, no attempt at conditioning. This is probably why they have such a universal appeal to them.
I don’t want something like Transformers happening to Robotech. All the same I am sure that this is exactly what will happen. :((
@Sohil
This is exactly what I mean by writers not being given enough time and space to thoroughly research. What a grouch.
@Chilli
The chances of a fuck up are hopefully greatly negated since WETA is involved and now since the Halo film is on hold, I hope and pray Neil Blomkamp gets to direct. :d
Here are the shorts he did which got him Halo. The man is a fucking genius. It’s me not worthy stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmd8BDiB-qU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNReejO7Zu8
Dude Michael Bay is still ok if you consider what would have happened if Rattner was helming it. I mean there was no way in hell they could have matched upto the 80’s animated version. I mean it had Orson Welles in it for chrissakes. :d
thanks for the links mithun…
blomkamp is truly amazing…
very basic very true style.
hope he sticks with it
Mithun,
Right on target there, the best scripts I’ve read have a director attached. Sigh.
As for my own process, ideally I’d like to write my own stuff but it’s largely been deemed ‘non-commercial’. I’m also a very, very lazy writer with endless procrastination and mindless web surfing. So what I’ve been doing is collaborating with other writers and working and fleshing out concepts.
However, there are certain genres which I wouldn’t mind directing but just can not get myself to be involved in the writing process in any major way (Rom-coms for instance) and would much prefer a spec script that’s almost there.
As you rightly mentioned, writing is a painful and time consuming process and our industry time lines don’t really acknowledge this (’One month of writing, one month of pre-prod and let’s shoot’)
I believe a good scripts can take months of gestating in your head, followed by months of writing and rewriting.
Mithun,
I am not sure if Anurag Basu who directed “Life in a Metro” gave credit or bought the rights from the producers of “The Apartment”, but “Metro” quite lifts, quite liberally if you ask me from “The Apartment”.
Pure speculation, but Jimmy Shergill was possible the first choice to play the role that Sharman eventually played in “Life in a Metro”.
That said, Metro is still one of my favorite films although I am a tad disappointed since one of the main tracks ended up being a lift.
-n
Hmmm… ‘Great expectations’. Thanks. Not a bad thought at all. Have been toying with updating a traditional Punjabi love story to the contemporary era.
@ Navdeep,…”299 at your local store”…thank you for the tip. What I meant was …do you really expect someone to go and watch your movie, write his magnum opus and genuflect before you to consider it for cinematic translation ? I dont think any writer worth his salt will do that. If you are so concerned about great material you will need to indulge a writer as much as you wish him to indulge you. Thats my point. And thats what I meant when I said “show me” your film. The problem is, if as a director u think its futile or infra dig to personally show your abilities to a writer, how do you expect him to trust you with his work…or trust you with anything at all ? Writing is an organic process and evolves with mutual trust between a writer & a director. Great scripts arent there “at your local store for 299″ ! Cheers !
@Mithun …”Dude”…ofcourse I have heard of Manorama and know quite a bit about it. But then again,…I havent watched it. I read the first 3 pages of the screenplay on PFC and got put off…not that I hold that against the film or the ability of the makers. …By the way,…why did they need to underexpose the neg 5 stops ? And with what stock ?
@Neeraj
The film I was referring wasn’t the Wilder flick but a french film which has nothing in common to the older film.
I must say I really liked Metro and found it incredibly well shot as well as having well rounded and motivated characters.
The Wilder film has been homaged many times in Bollywood with Yes Boss being the most recent example I think.
Playback,
Honestly, you lost me there. Writers write. I’m not a writer but I have written four scripts that are in more or less finished form. A dozen or so concepts in a two page synopsis type thing and tons of sketchy, not quite thought out concepts.
And that’s me and I’m not a writer. I wrote these because I was compelled to write them. As should, I believe, any writer. You write because there’s a story inside you that you’re compelled to put on paper. That’s the passion of the writer.
As for your; ’show me yours - I’ll show you mine’ what are you talking about???
@Navdeep
Traditional love story in the contemporary era ?
That sends my pulse racing. Wuthering Heights perhaps??
Actually can I mail you a list of books I’d love to see be adapted ? I think if the source material is great then the scripts reach another dimension altogether.
Ive read “The Prestige” in both book and script form and I was stunned at where the Nolan Brothers have taken it. The author himself has gone on record saying that the film is better than the book.
I would really love to see a lot more literary adaptations happen in Bollywood coz some of my fav filmmakers use a great piece of literature as their starting point. It gives them an amazing canvas with broad strokes already present and then they add their own magic. Guys like Fernando Meirelles, Vishal Bhardwaj and Kubrick are virtuosos at it.
@ Navdeep…I am talking about a writer trusting you with his work. Is that so difficult to understand ? “Writers write”…: “Cows Moo”. We hardly have any talented full-time writers here…what are you talking about ?
Mithun….Wuthering Heights = Traditional love story ? :O=))=))=))
@Playback
I wasn’t on the shoot but I was chatting with the best boy electric on the film and he told me it was coz Arvind the DP tried underexposing and pushing the film to get deeper blacks. Pretty cool and ballsy coz the recc limit is not to underexpose or push more than 2 stops coz then u risk getting a thin negative with visible grain. Dunno which stock.
And dude lemme add that it’s the director’s pejorative to assume that any writer who wants to work with him will take the effort to familarise himself with his work. It’s always the writers job to pitch and not vice versa. There is a hierarchy in place which needs to be respected unless there will be to many prima donnas running amok on the set.
@ Navdeep,…Also, if you have 4 scripts ready and another dozen concepts,…why have you “been trawling around the past few months for scripts” ? :O
@ Mithun,…the reason I asked for the stock was cos 5 stops under is tough to sustain.
As for my dialogue with Navdeep,…please excuse. Dont appreciate you intruding.
Anything written before the 20th century is traditional coz they fall in public domain. I was assuming that Navdeep wasn’t talking bout doing another Heer Ranjha or Devdas.
I just assume traditional equals period setting dude. It’s a character flaw I guess.
@ Mithun …If you get the time ,…please read up on what a break from tradition Emily Bronte was…:)
@Mithun,
For sure. That would be much appreciated (the list of books).
I really loved ‘The Prestige’ myself. It’s interesting to note that a film like that generally can only come from an existing literary source because of the years of research involved.
@Playback,
Got the bit about about a writer trusting a director with his work (assume you meant the ‘you’ in a generic sense) but how does that explain anything? Why is the average Bollywood film (and that’s 98% of them) still hobbled by bad scripts? Because there aren’t directors worth trusting?
Plus honestly, I’d appreciate a degree of civility in your approach. It’s easy to be rude when you’re commenting under an assumed name. Talk about trust.
@Playback
My apologies. I had forgotten how much courage it takes on your behalf to hide behind an anonymous handle and diss people. Please continue in wild abandon.
I guess this is the reason most forums which cater to professionals insist on usage of real names.
@ Navdeep…forgive me if I came across as rude. That was surely not intended.
@Mithun, I meant traditional in the ‘folk lore’ sense. It’s a lesser known Punjabi love story with a couple of nice plot points.
@Playback, Think I answered that when I said; ‘deemed non commercial’
@ Mithun…I didnt diss u off….so chill …ok ?
@ Navdeep,….I am really curious to know how a script is “deemed non-commercial”. I mean,…by what parameters…Would appreciate if you guide me. Thanks
@Playback, Mithun has a point there.
Some of the ‘featured’ writers here won’t comment because of the gratuitous attacks that they seem to generate.
I’m not saying that anyone is immune to well thought criticism but seriously, some of the discussions here become annoying and begins to smell of the kind of ‘high school rebelliousness’ that one should have grown out of by now.
We’re grown up people, can we have a grown up conversation?
Moreover, this is Mithun’s post and these side discussions tend to hijack the original intent of the post.
@Playback. Come now. It’s obvious.
It’s a combination of producers and actors saying that our films need more ‘masaala’ in them.
It’s the producer saying; “I want a three hero project, preferably a comedy”
It’s the star saying; “Why is my character such a loser?”
And so it goes…
@ Navdeep,…yeah,…am aware of that. Really pisses me off. Isnt there no work around ? … I mean,..if we adhere to formula frames and star quirks,…then how do we intend to come out with good scripts in the first place ?
@ Playback. The major problem (and don’t kill me, please) is the audience. We still don’t have an audience that’s large enough for certain kinds of films.
Currently, I believe, you can experiment within the area of comedy and perhaps, action thrillers. The trick is to make films that are ‘commercial’ yet substantial. Something that Hollywood and other film industries manage to do often enough.
@ Navdeep,…yeah
… Lets hope things get better.
Im curious though why don’t more people try making edgy made for tv films which aren’t meant for a theatrical release. Im not a number cruncher but surely the HBO/ miniseries model could work if the budgets were kept under control.
hey PLAYBACK … have ne of ur scripts been made into a feature ??? if u dont mind revealing them …
curious to know !!
i rem writers in kerala givin interviews where they wud say that .. “we wud hunt for directors who cud bring our characters to life” and the same goes for directors .. its a hunt for the “matching talent ” .. a hunt to hit the ppl with the ryt creative wavelength!!
Navdeep i believe ur adaptation of “china town” was slick … loved it !!!
will mail u soon!!!
Wow I just realized how caught up in this whole discussion i became.. Its past 1am here, I gotta get up b4 6am…
My personal take on remakes is that if a writer is willing to be creative, or at least innovative with the core concept, infuse new characters or at least update them with some fresh traits/nuances etc, and the director has a completely fresh vision for the film (like completely changing the setting the way Navdeep did w/ Manorama or even Anubhav Sinha did w/ Tum Bin, which was a remake of Kinara and Dushman) then you actually have a pretty fresh film on your hands, a new experience, and THAT’s what a remake should deliver.
Navdeep, it is seriously that bad out there? That’s promising for a guy (not cocky enough to call myself a “writer’ just yet) like me.. maybe I’ll send you a synopsis on email to get your thoughts…
Good one, Mithun. Stuff that gets everybody’s goat.
I agree with your point about the directors with a lack of vision. Many of them are cluless about what is required to ‘direct’ a script.
And writing is a huge, separate craft altogether. If someone hasn’t worked in an industry/scenario where questions have been asked of his writing, constantly, day after day after night, and he has answered them all, he isn’t one. But the industry is infested with people who haven’t been tutored in the craft. The number of fly-by-nighters strolling around with some ink on A4s is not funny. They write in Courier with the exact spacing and colon and bum but when did that mean jack?
And the number of directors travelling with their own ideas are not funny. Look at Halla Bol. I mean, what sort of writing is this? And this is someone who is right up there in the industry. A friend of mine once met the god of puffed chest and biceps and all he wanted was someone to do the part which required hours of sitting on a chair: write his story the way he was seeing it, scene by scene.
I can understand a director or anyone else writing his own stuff, provided he can really don the writer’s hat. But so many remakes show most are incapable of either good writing or visualising anything written by someone else.
Lack of creative education.
Mithun,
This DVDitis does not apply to Hindi alone. There are people here in Bangalore with such a severe case of this disease that they have had both an anal and brain lobotomy done to get rid of the conscience factor
I have had similar experiences here in wonderful Bangalore with Kannada Films. A certain “Intellectual” filmmaker from Bangalore who is always in the press had this to say when I was working on a project for him. I had gone ahead like an IDIOT and suggested a screenplay (Thriller) to him. He had listened and then asked me to write the same. He had then started giving pointers to some ideas of his..These all ideas were quite suspicions to me and looked like the came from a Hollywood flick that had watched a few weeks back. Like one big Chirkoot, I asked him if this was not from that film..Voila..The creative genius got angry and started to abuse me..He told me & I quote “You will not know where all I copied from and you will not know where all I get my ideas from.” This was being told when he was reclining on a sofa and next to him on the Coffee Table was the DVD of this film I mentioned
Of course he & I are not on talking terms and I walked out of that project. Am not sure if I will get any credit also for that after having worked on 17 version of my screenplay
Cheers, Deepak
The situation would be tragic if it weren’t so hilarious but I really believe that the tide is gonna shift soon coz there are a whole generation of film school / self taught turks just waiting in the wings.
I guess the biggest cause for the insane amount of untalented and unimaginative hacks present is simply that their motives for making films is different.
They are in it to get laid, hang out at Olive and boast that they are able to call Stars their buddies. To write a great script takes at least a year but nobody has the patience to actually go research and fine tune.
I remember when I had delusional thoughts of writing for hire, the first gig I got almost reduced me to a bout of depression coz the dude was fucking clueless. I decided then and there I would never work on somebody else’s concept but rather develop my own scripts and only give em out to people who were buddies of mine.
Writing as it is such a lonely and painful process that the last thing one ever wants to do is be aware that what he’s spending the time of his life is basically crap.
Hmm….I’d agree on Mithun there coz I also tried my hand at writing a script. It got so deep and mind-numbing that I really think I pulled an Eraserhead.
Writing is a process. The Indian film scenario is that since we’re dealing with producers wanting in to release their film as soon as the story is pitched and the begging to actors for their dates that the concept of a script that all parties agree on is something not noteworthy. One thing Western cinema and Hollywood really tends to work on is the cycle termed as development hell. Scriptwriters are hired. Rewrites are done if the script is way ambitious and to conceive it is to over budget a project. Then you have conceptual artists working on everything from sets to storyboards to what not. A director is then hired and only after a script session and all parties under one roof will the studio even allow a greenlight to go ahead with filming.
@Mr. Navdeep Singh and Mithun
http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=582&Itemid=99
A little something for the both of you. Tell me how you feel about it…
@Mithun
“For the record though I still prefer the original over the remake primarily I think coz the denouement in
@ Navdeep
This question is irrelevant to this post and out of sync.
Question -
1) How did you (for MSFU) go about film processing? Was it on daily basis from Mumbai / Delhi. If from Delhi, are there any film processing labs in Delhi?
(I assume you have been looking at rushes on daily basis)
I am in the process of finding out resources in Delhi (don’t have enough money to rent / process from Mumbai) … the intention is to make a ultra low budget indie movie based in Delhi itself..
Thanks.
Hemant.
@Mithun,
Thanks for the links. Those shorts were cool. WETA = new zealand special effects group? I am not worried about special effects, my main worry is the story. There was a series of Robotech novels by one Jack McKinney that captured the *essence* of the original quite well. I hope someone like him gets to write the script.
@saad nawab,
sounds remarkably similar to From Hell. (add some wings to the hookers)
@ saad nawab -
Carnival row will never get made. Reason? It is a spec. It is not based on an existing IP such as a novel, graphic or otherwise. LOTR got made becasue it was based on an exisitng series of books and the marketing folks know that there is a pre=sold consumer base. This is why Hollywood goes after exisitng novels, magazine articles, comics, TV shpows etc. Intellectual real estate as sokme people call it that already has a pre-sold fanbase. they can sink in $100MM as a production budget for one of these films.
A series like star wars where the fantasy/scifi world was created in the script will not get made today. Guaranteed. The surest way of making carnival row come to life is collaborating with an artist, putting out a gra[phic novel, finding and a publisher for it. Even if it is not immensely popular, theiur chances of getting it made will go up exponentially.
But if travis has already sold that script, which is the intention i got, rest assured that it will collect dust at the bottom of a vault.
@Mithun, I too would have thought that the mini-series model could be successful but some recent probing, albeit casual, was disappointing. TV is a greater wasteland than Bollywood. Outside of talent shows and K serials no one seems much interested in anything.
@Hemant, There are no labs in Delhi as far as I know. Prasad does have a collection center there as might others (Adlabs, Kodak) I believe the turnaround time is 24 hours but you might want to check.
On Manorama we didn’t have the luxury of dailies (too low budget) The exposed stock traveled to Bombay every 10 days or so and one light telecines burnt on DVD were sent at irregular intervals.
@ Navdeep
Thanks very much Navdeep. We would probably have to follow the same route. . .ours will be many times low budget than MSFU..
Thanks again.
@Chilli
Looks really interesting. Id like to read the script.
@Dpac
It’s more Neil Gaiman than From Hell (Alan Moore).
The concept of humans and faeries interacting is more Gaiman’s forte vis a vis Stardust and Sandman.
@dabba
I think it might have a chance of getting made if an A list director or star gets attached to it. The fantasy / scifi genre is booming coz of the potential for eye candy and doesn’t have to be an existing property. Look at “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “Pitch Black”, “Renaissance” and “Paprika”. In fact it seems to be better suited for animation rather than live action.
@Navdeep
Well It seems that we are screwed at every turn. Guess will have to make my bones in LA only rather than hope for a miracle in Bombay.
Well actually there is hope yet as UTV is actively building a bank of scripts and have devoted an entire division to development. One of my friends is a reader there. Maybe you could find a spec there which suits your taste.
@mithun,
i just meant the storyline. nothing else
@ Mithun..You end up writing good posts.Also end up getting good number of replies.Keep it oing
As for DVDitis..the best glaring example I can give you is “Bicchoo”.The makers so badly ripped it off from “Leon-The Professional”..It was appalling and makes me throw up everytime.Every person remotely associated with “Bicchoo” project should be penalised. I mean they just needed to replace Jean Reno and Natalie Portman from the Leon print and replace it with Bobby and Rani.Shame!!!!!
Mithun - The above comment #61 should give you an idea why I think you are part of the ‘intelligentsia’ who visit/write on this website. Your articles are refreshing and an absolute joy to read.
you know.. it is strange that people in the Indian TV industry remake dramas/reality shows/etc legally - they actually give the credit to original piece in the opening credits. They have become a bit of professional in that regards..
Wasn’t one of the Star TV drama sued for copying a show or adapting a book illegally? It had Karishma in it.. if i remember correctly..
Case Study # 1
Trent Reznor version of Hurt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y8MZd-GtN0&feature=related
Johnny Cash version of Hurt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go
Trent’s reaction to the Johnny Cash version
“I pop the video in, and wow
@neeraj — quite agree with you…even dialogues in the sharman-kk-kangana angle are “inspired” from “the apartment” but that was a jack lemmon/shirley mclaine starrer. mithun is talking about a cassel/belluci starrer one. which is this one? however, to anurag’s credit he blended the apartment angle with the other stories very beautifully….
@Saurav
Bichoo was painful but have u been lucky enough to watch the “Indian Superman” ???
It’s so fucking amazing they have used the actual shots from the original. And by used I mean they shot it off a TV or something and spliced it into the print so you have all the flying and VFX shots with a 10 generation loss. Oh and in a bit of Bollywood/Oedipal mash up, our Superman kills the desi version of Pa Kent played by Ashok Kumar inadverdently by hugging him too tightly. !!!
@Anand G
Thanks for the compliments but I leave the tag of intelligentsia to people more deserving of it like Khalid Mohammad. :d
BTW, i liked Bhichchoo. technically it was good. i was impressed by Guddu Dhanoa’s treatment for action and drama. didn’t know that it was copied from and english movie.
Guddu Dhanoa’s another crap “Hawaa” was also copied from “the Entity”. Its tagline was “Don’t watch it Alone” :)):)):)):)):)):)) watch it with friends otherwise you would get bored.:)):)):))
seeing so many budding scriptwriters here, i too was inspired to write my own script yesterday. but guess what, i finished it yesterday and i have it with me in finished form.
the main theme of the script is procrastination, and the script consists of one blank page…..
@ dabba
New Line bought Travis Beacham’s script and have set Neil Jordan (Interview with the vampire). Interesting choice but we’re trading on Guillermo del Toro territory here but it’s been announced he is in talks to direct two Hobbit films for Peter Jackson. As to how they bought the spec script, one of the screewriters of Terminator 3 helped him out. Travis Beacham is already hot property having written a rewrite of the Clash of the Titans remake for Stephen Norrington.
As for scripts like killing on Carnival Row not getting made, you’re wrong. true that they take a long long time but if the script is good, they do eventually get made. Take for instance next years Will Smith starer John Hancock. The script was optioned and had directors like Michael Mann and Johnathan Mostow. It took more than a decade for the script to come to life but the point being here is it did.
@Mithun
Write another article. Am tired of scrolling down all the time:d
@Saad,
Neil Jordan is probably not a bad choice. I remember one of his early ‘fantasy’ films from the 80’s called ‘Company of Wolves’ which I absolutely loved at the time (saw it a bazillion times on VHS, probably the only idiot who ever rented the movie) It was adapted from an Angela Carter short which in itself was an interesting take on Red Riding Hood.
Cinema loses Bharat Gopi
we will miss u sir
Shit don’t tell me Norrington is gonna do the Harryhausen classic. I see a huge train wreck in the making. It’s gonna be putrid monkey shit. It takes real talent to fuck up LXG considering. Out of the Blade trilogy the only watchable one is Blade 2 but that’s a no brainer considering del Toro helmed it.
Speaking of Riding Hood did anyone else like “Hard Candy” ? I really liked it considering it was shot on such a low budget and raises some very intriguing moral and philosophical questions. Ellen Page is just amazing.
What I really find interesting is the trend of directors remaking their own acclaimed films as a passport into Hollywood. Take the example of Michel Haneke remaking “Funny Games” and the Pang Bros doing “Bangkok Dangerous”. Whaddya u guys think bout that?
It seems that most of the South Indian films (Tamil & Telugu)are original stories. Sometimes they remake each others films, but I haven’t noticed too many coming from other sources. They have a lot of great storylines even though most of them are village type movies. Manorama reminded me a little of that type of film inspite of the “Chinatown” inspired storyline.
@Saad
“New Line bought Travis Beacham
Inter species copulation ??
You make it sound so perverted. :d
Sounds like a must watch.
Apart from Jordan the others who I think would be a great fit for this are Luc Besson, Tim Burton and Dave Mckean.
Add Alfonso Cuaron to the list.
Stepehn Norrington was chosen to direct Clash of the titans because of his creature effects background. I personally would like to give the guy a chance. His problems with Connery wrecked LXG. Blade did launch the comic book movie phenomenon again back when it was made. It was good but not great. Blade 2 was excellent. Lawrence Kasdan wrote the first draft and Travis Beacham revised it. Guess this will be big. Norrington was also rumored to make a live action version of Battle Angel until James Cameron took over and will hopefully make it after he finishes Avataar.
Killing on Carnival row really seems to be an excellent film. It’s noir with fantasy, a combination never tried. That’s the thing that caught hold. Hope it delivers whenever it release and New Line has the courage to make it a hard R-rated film.
I would prefer Len Wiseman to helm Titans coz of 3 reasons
1) The Underworld Films were waaay coool
2) He has def more visual and storytelling skills
3) He married Kate Beckinsale :d