Ep 31- It’s a CAAAAPY, Yaar!- Remakes, Adaptations and Straight Lifts in Bollywood

Excellent stuff guys!!! You reminded me of how many “caaaapies” and adaptations I actually love – even my favorite movie of ALL-TIME, Sippy Films’ Satte Pe Satta (Amitabh/Hema Malini) is loosely based on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I loved a lot of those 90s ones mentioned, Aamir’s string of them – JJWS, Ghulam, Akele Hum Akele Tum, and Rum, Yeh Dillagi was one of my favorite movies too! There are a lot of times that I watch American films and think – this would be an excellent Hindi film!

Since I’m a regular watcher of Tamil films too, I’ve watched soooo many of these films translated to Hindi. Sometimes it works – like the Mani Rathnam films (Roja, Saathiya which was Alaipayuthe in Tamil, Sadma which was Moondram Pirai in Tamil), and sometimes it fails miserably for me; The Gentleman with Chiranjeevi and Juhi, which was the excellent Gentleman in Tamil … Bhool Bhulaiya which totally couldn’t compare to the Tamil version Chandramukhi for me (I’m sorry, Akshay can never be Rajnikanth), Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Mein which was Madhavan’s adorable film Minnale in Tamil, and so many others. Also a bunch of those cheesy 80s Sridevi-Jeetendra movies that I loved (Himmatwala, Mawaali, Justice Choudhary, Tohfa) were originally Tamil/Telugu movies, which I didn’t even know! Same goes for many of the David Dhawan-Govinda movies in the 90s (which I haven’t seen a lot of, but I’ve probably seen the Tamil version). I thought Ghajini worked great in both languages, and loved Wanted when I had only just mildly enjoyed Pokiri in Tamil (that could be the Sallu-fangirl in me though).

Sometimes for me, the decision to watch the remake is really dependent on the actors they choose – I have no interest in Singham because I don’t care for Ajay Devgan and can’t imagine he’d be able to compare to Surya. I am APPALLED by the idea of John Abraham and Genelia D’Souza attempting to take on the remake of the EXCELLENT film Kaakha Kaakha, which featured Surya and his now-wife Jyothika (Nagma from Baaghi’s sister). Most of the time anyone trying to remake a Rajnikanth film will fail for me.

What I DON’T like is this trend of remaking films that were hits only a few decades ago … like Don (which I liked, don’t get me wrong, but still didn’t feel it was necessary) and Agneepath. I am horrified that Sanjay Dutt is remaking Satte Pe Satta.

As for the music, it seems like everyone copies great music from the Telugu industry, with the one exception being Rahman for Tamil music. But Rehman tends to dub his own music into Hindi, so no one can really copy him. With Rehman’s dubs, a lot of times the language I heard it in first tends to stick with me. So Roja, Thiruda Thiruda, Kaadhalan, Gentleman, etc. feel kind of sacred to me in Tamil. Mostly I feel like his music is written for Tamil language, so the Hindi lyrics often sound like they don’t FIT right in the phrases.

Rajesh Roshan has SHAMELESSLY lifted tunes for AGES, and he seems to get away with it all the time. Same with Anu Malik and now the latest guy to do it is Pritam. But then there are songs that you KNOW are lifted and yet they become iconic in the B’wood sphere … songs like Oye Oye (Tridev), Tamma Tamma Loge (Thanedaar) and Jhumma Chumma (Hum), Aate Jaate (Maine Pyar Kiya), etc. (there’s far more than that, but I have early 90s music on the brain). It’s like you KNOW they’re doing it, but sometimes the song is so fun you’re like Who cares?!

Ok I’m blabbering. I have more to say but I gotta go … I’ll try to come back and comment more later. Keep up the great work you guys! XOXO

Anandini