Remakes aren't something new to the Bollywood, we have been making them from the 80s and it is a simple hit formula. Take any South Indian movie which is a hit, then you know the story is going to be a success, make a frame by frame copy and write the dialogues by the great Kader Khan. Since, there is no dubbing and the North Indian doesn't know South Indian languages, you have a formula for a bigger Hindi movie success.
This worked and the trend kept continuing. I remember, when Salman Khan was going through a tough phase, he made Wanted, a remake with the high action, drama of the South movie and boom, his career revived.
Surely, the remakes work. But now we have South Indian movies which are dubbed in Hindi and also there are people warming up to the fact that watching a movie with subtitles isn't bad.
So in this era, is making a remake still a viable option. And what are are some characteristics of a bad or good remake movie which are made in Bollywood, the Hindi film industry. Let's find out.
Example of A Good Remake
Sairat was a blockbuster Marathi movie, the story rooted in culture and something everyone has experienced. The highlight was the music and the new faces in the movie. The acting was raw and something not out of a performance. The story demanded the brutal raw nature and the gritty nature of the movie delivered.
Now, what do you do a regional movie becomes so big that everyone, including the hindi audiences have seen the movie.
Of course, you make a remake. With Dharma helming the project, I was semi confident. He is a good director and alright producer. Then I saw the trailer, debutant, although nepo kids. Same music director and a nice look of the movie.
Same theme, little alteration and the rawness was intact. The choice to have debutant and keeping same music composer was genius. It worked because they altered the ending a bit. So, the people who had seen the previous movie had something else to get shocked about. Genius of the writers to do this.
Same thing happened in the remake of the Don. Spoilers, if you haven't gauged by now. SRK as Don, promising but I have seen and loved the original Don so many times. But they did, they had not one but two twist. The villain was someone else, Don was alive, my head was spinning and the swag element was beautifully pulled by SRK.
Two remakes done right by creatively adding but still retaining the original story. One required raw, so rawness was kept. One required stardom, so stardom was kept.
One of the latest remake done right was the biggest blockbuster Drishyam. It was a South movie and it got remade in other South languages with big Superstars, all the story was same, there was nothing to be changed, it's a thriller movie and it works because of the story.
But the Hindi remake is the superior one, because of the acting of two people who outshined so much that, they were the highlight. One is the girl and her story about 2nd October and the character of Gaitonde is so well played in the Hindi version that we want him more.
Then came Drishyam 2, I watched in south and it was good. However, the Hindi version threw a trump card. They roped in Akshay Khanna, a good choice for such movies. He had already shown his performance in varied subtle movies. He was one of the highlight and also Gaitonde was roped back in.
If you are doing remake, and you can't do anything to change, spice up the characters with performance so that people look forward despite watching the original movie.
Example of A Bad Remake
Let's talk about the infamous Lal Singh Chaddha. You take an iconic movie and then ruin it. Forest Gump is the movie which everyone has seen, at least everyone who goes to cinema. Even one deviation from such a classic is bound to ruin the movie.
Aamir makes the classic mistake not once but twice. He remade a Spanish movie into Sitaare Zameen Par.
Here is a take, superstars like Aamir who had plethora of scripts coming their way, they should invest their star power into bringing something to light, which would otherwise be impossible or take a story to newer heights. If Aamir does remake then what should other people do.
Aamir's acting in both movies are okay, the script takes it forward. But Lal Singh fails because it's unbearable to even watch, despite a decent story. Aamir's acting is lazy and one dimension.
Sitaare works because it's sold as a spiritual sequel to Taare Zameen Par, which was so unnecessary. This is another trend wherein, movies are named on a hit movie which came earlier, just to ride on their success wave.
Akshay Kumar's journey with movies like Hera Pheri, Garam Masala was on remakes but he gave it all in these films. Now, he reads lines from teleprompter, makes no effort and rides on his stardom to push the movie.
This shows, and therefore and even remakes of good movies like Jigarthanda as Bachchhan Paandey doesn't work or performs underwhelmingly like Selfiee.
So What Makes A Good Remake Movie?
A good remake should have the following:
What unique elements would you add, either in story or the character?
Ideally, a debutant should lead this, story is king so let's take risk with a newcomer, less expectancy from audience and surprise element from their acting and working probability of a good story.
Don't remake a story which has ended suitably
If remaking, avoid namesake remake like spiritual or otherwise
Remaking with intent delivers. Are you remaking for money or better distribution or craft practice. This leads to right expectations
Make it on a reasonable budget, this works if there are debutants, so the risk is potentially lower. The movie still markets because of the original movie hype.
Remake with proper authorization and credits and royalties
Don't let your legacy be only remakes, make something fresh too
Give it your all, even if it fails, you would know you made a good movie
Cast great supporting actors, they make or break the movie
How else would you save Bollywood from terrible remakes?
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