Are Bollywood remakes a good idea?

By Monica Chadha
BBC News, Mumbai

Don is a slick upgrade of the original 1978 hit

India's raucous and colourful Bollywood film industry has freely lifted stories and themes from Hollywood hits over the years.

Now the Hollywood bug of remaking popular films has now bitten Bollywood.

So far, the verdict has been mixed - two weepy remakes of Bollywood classics, Devdas and Parineeta, have been hits in the recent years.

This year, the audiences have loved one remake, and rejected the others, making it clear that they will not accept a film just because it is a remake.

The one that has done well the second time around is Don, a remake of a hit 1978 action film, starring Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

Hit show

The story of a man caught in an elaborate plan woven by the police to nab a look-alike criminal has been tweaked for surprises and shot slickly evoking the colours and mood of Matrix and the bravura action of Con Air.

One viewer even compared Don to a James Bond movie, while others felt that it lacked the soul and earthiness of the original starring superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

The iconic 1975 hit Sholay is being remade

But at the end of the day, the new version of Don raked in the money at the box office.

The same cannot be said of two other releases, Jai Santoshi Maa, and the much anticipated Umrao Jaan, starring top stars Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.

The new, glossy Umrao Jaan is a retread of the critically acclaimed 1981 commercial hit about a 19th century north Indian courtesan. The original film starred Rekha, one of the finest actors of her generation.

Umrao Jaan 2006 has bombed at the box office - critics panned it for being a big yawn.

They are also wondering whether churning out remakes is such a good idea because even in Hollywood they have consistently received a very mixed verdict at the box office.

Umrao Jaan director JP Dutta defends the remake stoutly -"If Romeo and Juliet can be made 10-15 times, nobody questions, so why the [hullabaloo] over this?"

Director Ram Gopal Verma seems to agree with this contention - he has embarked on the mother of all remakes, a reversion of the 1975 blockbuster hit Sholay (Flames), a star studded curry-western which ran for years in the theatres and became the most iconic Bollywood film ever made.

Mr Verma has also pulled off a coup of sorts by signing up Amitabh Bachchan to play one of the roles - Bachchan had acted in the original.

Creative drought

The Sholay remake which has divided fans of the film across the country has already run into copyright issues with the original producer.

The director says his version is different and the title carries his signature - the film is called Ram Gopal Verma Ke Sholay (Ram Gopal Verma's Flames).

Many critics say Bollywood's remake mania has been spurred by bankruptcy of ideas.

But critic and author Anupama Chopra denies this.

"Bollywood is, now more than any other time, experimented with new films and scripts. Unconventional moves are now being made. The thing is, one remake has worked and it's is the flavour of the season so others are trying their hand at it as well," she says.

"I would begin to worry if filmmakers begin to think of remakes as an easy way out and start copying them in an unimaginative manner. That could lead to creative bankruptcy in the industry."