Nothing can be static in this world, so change is an undeniable factor of the hour. So for sure, it doesn’t exempt Bollywood from that. Remakes are definitely not alien to our industry it traces back to Satte Pe Satte of 1982, a remake of the English movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). To all those who claims and argues about credibility this might be a direct blow. Yes, the history of our remake goes back way too long than we assume it to be.
Remakes, their pros and cons are all a well debated as well as mooted subjects of all time but whatever may it be we cannot imagine a film industry without it though. There has been a rise in number of remakes that are being churned out which ends with Bang Bang the recent release.
Positives and negatives can be found in every aspect so does in remakes too. The industry has given us good as well as bad remakes of all time. There are hundreds of remakes that has been done and that are being done for near future. Baazigar, Jo Jeetha Wohi Sikander, Rangeela,Chach 420, Koi Mil Gaya, Devdas, Krrish, Don, Om Shanthi Om, Dhoom3, Gajini, Dabaang, Kick the list goes on and on. These were huge hits in the box office but movies like Ram Gopal Verma ki Aag, Umrao Jaan, Chashme Baddoor, God Tussi Great Ho, Dil Bole Hadippa, Himmatwala etc were huge flop made way for severe criticisms for remakes.
Why is it that majority of movie makers find it good to make a remake?
The commercial value, commercially successful scripts can pool in lots and lots of money when it just has to be adapted for the Hindi audience. Kick would be the best example for that. The film went on to become the fourth highest grossing Bollywood film of all time in India, the seventh highest-grossing in overseas markets and the 3rd highest-grossing Bollywood film worldwide.
The Boxoffice, almost majority of the remakes in recent times has struck the box office gold which includes the recent release Bang Bang. Being the official remake of Knight and Day which is now ruling the overseas box-office.
When a remake is made, the film makers can obviously figure out the loopholes in the original movie from the critics and audience responses thereby improving their end product. In the original version of tamil Ghajini, Surya goes for the bald hairstyling initially itself and then wears a wig in shots with hair but Aamir Khan over came this small imperfection by finishing the shots with his original hai and the moving to the eccentric ones as the styling is already known.
Remakes also offer good strong scripts with a better release opening up to a wider audience. Going overseas is no new for any remakes may it be Don, Krrish, Bang Bang or may it be the flops.
Though the critics claim that there is a loss of creativity when it comes to remakes, it cannot be substantiated always as movies like Anjaana Anjaani, Don, Ghajini looks different in on screen taking apart the scripts. So remaking a movie is also an art when its done brilliantly without compromises.
It gives out a great opportunity for our youngsters who have not seen the old movies. If the same story is presented in a different format with improved technology in a more modified way like of Don for sure it turns out to be awareness too.
The barriers of language are broken down when we talk about remakes. Audiences are given an opportunity to explore other language stories like that of English, Korean etc.
Then comes, the mix and match movies where the movie makers adapt the plot of other language movies and reworks on thereby bringing a new story that matches up with our audience. Kasoor of Mukesh Bhatt was one such movie copy of the 1985 Hollywood thriller Jagged Edge & The Kannada film Antima Ghatta.
How much ever you reprimand, remakes will always remain an inevitable part of Bollywood.
The Shaukeens is the next upcoming remake 1982 Shaukeen directed by Basu Chatterjee, starring Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt, A. K. Hangal, Rati Agnihotri and Mithun Chakraborty. The movie is directed by Abhishek Sharma featuring Annu Kapoor, Piyush Mishra and Anupam Kher in lead roles alongside Lisa Haydon, while Akshay Kumar will be doing cameo role.