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Another film inspired by Hollywood flicks is on the way. Will it work?


ACCORDING to recent reports, Hancock and James Bond will soon meet on screen for a new Bollywood film starring Randeep Hooda. The hero of the film will possess the qualities of both characters — he’ll look like a normal guy but have supernatural powers.

While ‘inspiration’ isn’t a new word in the dictionary of Indian cinema, an overdose of movies inspired by Hollywood and regional movies makes movie-goers wonder if Bollywood scriptwriters and directors have run out of ideas. Recent movies like U, Me Aur Hum (The Notebook), Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic (Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music), Love Story 2050 (Back to the Future, Star Wars, Bicentennial Man and Time Machine), Krazzy 4 (The Dream Team), Shaurya (A Few Good Men), Partner (Hitch) and Heyy Babyy (Three Men And A Baby) have all been inspired by Hollywood movies. While remakes like Partner, Heyy Babyy and Sarkar (The Godfather) worked at the BO, all the other movies flopped.

So what goes wrong in these ‘inspired’ films? “The movie has to be made well,” says MG Sathya, scriptwriter for Swades. “It’s a very subjective matter and there are parameters that make an inspiration work,” he says. Sathya also feels that filmmakers often use the formula as a marketing strategy. “Directors don’t need to say that a film is an adaptation of another movie. But they do to get people interested in their films,” he says.

However, he feels there’s nothing wrong in making a movie based on the script of another movie as long as it’s well thought out. “We make movies for the masses. They don’t pay attention to whether a movie is inspired by another movie or not. It depends on the marketing, star cast and director,” Sathya says.

But actor Ramesh Aravind feels there’s no point in remaking a movie. “If I were to make a movie based on some other hit, I’d present my point of view to the audience. I’d never remake it with a new star cast,” he says. “When I watched U Me Aur Hum, it was like watching The Notebook,” says techie Sudheendra M. “So I knew the ending when the movie had just started. I knew she’d remember everything at the end and it totally killed the movie for me,” he says.

According to Ramesh, the classics should be left untouched. “Classics have their own impact. Filmmakers shouldn’t touch the original as the second version of a classic often turns out to be a disaster,” he says. What draws audiences to theatres when they already know the storyline of a movie? “Some people go just to see how badly the moviemakers goofed up,” says Ramesh, adding, “My wife went to see RGV Ki Aag to see how well they remade Sholay!”

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