The Phenomena Of Movie Remakes
The phenomenon of remakes is not something new to Tollywood or be it any movie industry. Remakes, since decades, have been an integral part of Cinema and a norm of feature film making. In the Black & White and Eastman Colour eras of Tollywood, movies of NTR and ANR were remade, by MGR & Sivaji in Kollywood and vice versa.
Also, Tollywood borrowed remakes from Bollywood & Sandalwood, mostly the movies that featured superstars , Amitabh Bachchan and Rajkumar. Most of the time the remakes ticked well at the box office, because they either had an impactful story line or because the roles suited the screen images of the actors. A striking similarity can be drawn among the contemporary actors of the peer industries. NTR, ANR, MGR, Sivaji, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajakumar were iconic personalities and had a larger-than-life image on the screen. Then came the next generation of actors — Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh from Tollywood who had more number of remakes compared to his contemporary big leagur stars. Chiranjeevi chose the scripts that suited his image and ensured that there are necessary masala elements to sell it off as a pakka commercial entertainer, for he was a star of the masses. On the other side, Venkatesh chose good scripts and owned the roles effortlessly by stepping into the shoes of the original.
Now, in the current generation, the concept of remakes comes merely as a rescue to the directors if their brains fall short of new stories or do not have the mental faculty to brainstorm ideas. In the pretext of bringing forward good subjects to the local audience, the directors shell out big bucks to the original film makers in getting the remake rights. Most of the times, they become big duds unless they are commercially viable subjects backed up by a star value. What buyers fail to understand is that there are many factors surrounding the original movie’s success. The original movie would have become a hit because their local audience wanted to see their favorite star in that role, or it suited the nativity of the audience, or it was a contemporary subject or a burning topic during that period, or it catered to the tastes of the local audience. Not always is the subject salable in a regional market. Well, no one can really say which movie can work and which cant but it’s reasonable to assess certain factors before contemplating the decision to remake a particular movie.
Now, even after successfully remaking movies, there is no sure-fire way to get over the impression of the original. Unlike those days, today, everyone has access to a plethora of sources for online viewing of the original version. By the word of mouth, the movie’s reputation crosses the borders of the state and attracts the movie lovers of the neighboring states. So, movie buffs get to see the original version of the movie even before it is made in their language. They usually get carried away by the movie’s impact and tend to draw comparisons between the original script’s characterization & performances with that of the local one. So, to recreate the magic of the original, the actors must get under the skin of the character and perform exceptionally well rather than blatantly copying the expressions, mannerisms and picking up other body language cues from the original actors. Frame to frame copies of the original pisses off the viewers who already had a taste of the original.
So, what is assumed to be a safe bet can turn out to be a roller coaster ride .To create a new good impression of the original movie is not a cakewalk but a rope-walk. The syndrome of the original-movie-impact cannot be nullified and to make the audiences get over this syndrome poses a great challenge to the makers.The makers will be slapped for either shameful /blatant copy of the original or futile attempt of recreation of the original’s impact. So, a cautious approach is needed.
Shankar Dada Zindabad would have flopped because no one wanted to see megastar in a role that adopts Gandhian principles, instead of a role that bashes goons that come his way. It is a movie that can’t bypass the main theme of the movie by including mass masala elements. Lucia, a crowd-funded movie in Kannada, became a big success because Sandalwood audience were vexed with a regular pattern of movies and this movie being fresh in its concept came as a sigh of relief. But when it was remade into Tamil, the movie went without a trace and most of them never knew that there was such a movie released. This did not suit the taste of the audiences because Siddharth was shown in a deglamorized role and such innovative scripts are beaten to death in Tamil Cinema. Dhanush did Kutty and Utthamaputhiran in Tamil, remakes of Arya and Ready respectively. Dhanush has failed miserably to match the energy and eccentricity of Allu Arjun and Ram in the originals.
Dhrushyam was a crime thriller where screenplay is the hero. The movie solely runs on the screenplay. When such a movie was remade into other languages, all the other versions too were appreciated and applauded, although the original version won more points than the remade versions. Movies like this work because they are script driven . Thriller & horror genres are a safe bet to remake provided they fall into to right directorial hands because everyone enjoys thrills and likes to get scared. Again if they lack proper execution they might flunk as well. When it comes to comedy movies, comedy depends on the timing of the actors and the the audience familiarity with the humour-provoking phrases and slang words. Every industry has its taste and sensibility for humor and evoke laughter. So, remaking comedy movies also needs special care. For eg: there is a movie called Soodhu Kavvum in Tamil, which was remade into Telugu as Gaddam Gang, the movie was a crime comedy, it clicked well because of the director’s vision. That was a low budget movie by a new director with almost all newbies, who all came from a short film circuit. The dialogues were slickly written and the BGM, Cinematography complemented the dark comical mood of the world. The same effect was not seen in the remade version. I also feel, the script is not something an actor like Rajasekhar is supposed to do, having an angry young man image.
On general terms,I fell if there is a plan to remake a good script, its better to rope in befitting actors for the remade version, or else it would become too heavy or too light for the actors to carry the weight of the character and the movie might fall flat on screen.
