It’s 2017 and we have come a long way from the Maa main aa gaya… days. But just like life, our cinema is also not linear. We take one step forward and two backwards. It has some delicious goodies and many bitter pills.
Many things have changed today, from the shot taking to the colours used to the way our actors perform. We have turned it a notch lower in terms of melodrama and upgraded to the best technology available to us.
I had met Javed Akhtar a while ago and he told me, “By and large the acting standard in comparison to before has become a lot better. There is no hamming today. The general standard has improved a lot. Our writing standard is not how is used to be but then this is also true that the cliche that we used to see back in the day is not seen anymore.” Exactly why we take one step forward and two backwards. But nevertheless we are trying everything that we can to move forward and not stagnate.
Having said that, the dichotomy of the situation lies in the fact that on one hand, we have films like Newton, Pink, Hindi Medium and MOM that make us proud, on the other hand we go back in time and try to recreate what has already been done and dusted. Why? What is the need? We all have watched the original films, loved, laughed, hated and moved on. Why do we drag them once again in a contemporary setup which more often than not has failed us.
They say movies are nothing but a reflection of society and the times that we live in. So that clearly implies that what has been is something that we have moved away from… and should keep moving forward.
Judwaa 2, starring Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu, just released and my heart was crying. As a 90’s kid, David Dhawan films have been our guilty pleasure and remain even today. Dancing through the night on Chalti Hai Kya 9 Se 12 and Oonchi Hai Building is almost everyone’s thing when a party crosses the 3 am line. Trust me, no one can resist. But that does not imply that we need to watch the same film again with a different cast.
Taapsee Pannu, Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandez in a still from Judwaa 2. YouTube
The gags in the film are still carrying the burden of the 90’s and that is why they do not ring a bell today… especially in a world where we have access to the best stand up comics on our phones. Adding to that, my personal misery is the murder of my favourite party anthems. It is blasphemous and hurts my heart and soul. There is a very thin line between paying homage and imitating them to the tee which gets dissolved when you are remaking a film. Varun is an earnest actor and I really like him in that capacity but the fact that rather than his interpretation of Raja and Prem, we see him being Salman. Who stands a chance then?
When I watch such atrocity happening to good, bad or any sort of guilty pleasure from back in the day, I sit and think to myself that film makers should take an oath to not touch the material which has already seen the light of the day unless they are going to change the mould it was made in. We keep repeating things and then cry that there is dearth of films that have something new to tell. Isn’t that obvious?
History is proof that whenever we have tried to lift the old films to remake them in the name of a tribute, it has more often than not failed us. Remember Zanjeer, the one that starred Amitabh Bachchan and the one that starred Ram Charan. That was nothing but suicide and the film was outrightly rejected by the audiences. Even today, Zanjeer (2013) is the barometer by which we measure how atrocious the film is.
The best part about remakes is that either they are so forgetful or they become the basis of humour for the years to come. You must have guessed where I am going with this. Only Ram Gopal Varma did what no one could. Remade Sholay and cast Amitabh Bachchan in it too. From cacophony, confused characters to forgettable dialogue, that film had everything. It will not be wrong to say that this is what they call mass murder of art. There are many that can be added to the list from Karz (starring Rishi Kapoor) and the one with a lot of ZZZZ... (starring Himesh Reshamiya). We should have guessed by the number of Zzzzz what a snooze fest it was going to be.
Himesh Reshamiya and Urmila Matondkar in a still from Karzzzz. YouTube
Usually remakes are aimed to create a market for nostalgia but if the idea is to lift a storyline and not the essence of the magic, it is pointless to subject your audience to it. But if the tricks are new, treatment is interesting and the interpretation is what can distinguish your narrative from the one you’re inspired from, it will be an interesting watch.
Most of the times, makers have not been able to deliver this and received much flak for the same. The truth of the matter is that this is a vicious cycle as we do not respect and pay our writers so all we have got is nothing new to say. Hence, there is lack of creativity and no originality in cinema many times. The day we start to give the writers their due, things will change. As I type this, I think to myself, recently there were reports that Rohit Shetty’s version of the remake of Ram Lakhan has been shelved. Is this a blessing in disguise? Just saying!
Published Date: Sep 30, 2017 11:04 am | Updated Date: Sep 30, 2017 11:04 am
