Some time back I watched I am Legend, and wrote about it. It was, to me, a brilliant movie idea executed very well. Of course, there are always moments when you go “Oh damn, they could’ve dealt with THIS part slightly differently!”, but by and large that did little to radically change my overall good impression of the script, storyline and execution.
The movie is based on Richard Mathesons book as we had discussed in that post. The book was first made as a film in 1964, and then again in 1971. I am Legend was the third adaptation. Although this is a well known fact, no one sighed or rolled their eyes or dismissed it as a me-too.
Stop and think about it. A third attempt. A much used plot. Yet, why was there not much rolling-the-eyes?
Now consider this.
You’ve watched Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha? Well that’s French Kiss. Bad Boys, Reservoir Dogs, Hitch, When Harry Met Sally, What Lies Beneath…..they’ve all been used. And its not as if the cinema viewing public doesn’t know about it. The Blogosphere is full of these references, for example this exchange of comments in the forum of Think Digit. And everyone is noticing these supposed ‘inspirations’ and eyes roll about in their sockets in a crazy frenzy all the time. With each release of such ‘inspired’ movies, reports suggest that Ophthalmologists yelp out in joy and keep their clinics open for 3 extra hours each day.
DishumDishum.com, the blog dedicated – sort of – to Bollywood exploits even made a sort of a cross referring analysis of the general views in the blogosphere on shameless copythis, copythat orientation of Bollywood. They even referred the post of a famous blogger you follow religiously.
Apparently, and I havent noticed any myself, no credits have been made to the original in any of these ‘copywood’ releases, as DishumDishum.com calls them. And really that lack of grace is probably what sets eyes rolling. Adaptations are not new and need not be objectionable. But trying to pass it off as your own certainly is.
Oh and theres music. Take a look at this.
It is time for some serious change. As people of this country, we have history of producing some of the worlds most awe inspiring creative thoughts. But now we confront creative bankruptcy.
Now read this refreshing piece and you will see what I mean. What incredible magic with just black and white! As Karthik points out, what brilliance in 1959!
It is now 2008.
We seem to have have mastered the art of One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. I won’t be surprised if 9 out of every 10 movies is a copy. Nothing surprising, if you consider that 8 out of 9 alphabets in the name of our movie industry is a copy afterall.
The fact that the media, industry and the public allowed the industry to be called Bollywood should say something.
Sigh.
11 responses so far ↓
T // July 14, 2008 at 2:24 am |
‘And its not as if the cinema viewing public doesn’t know about it’- I think it works on the basic principle of ‘Demand & Supply’. The cinema viewing public continues to spend their ‘arguably’ hard earned Rupees to watch such rip offs even though they are in the know. As long as there is an audience out there (n boy! are they many), producers will continue doling them out. Btw, did u like ‘Hancock’?
Kima // July 14, 2008 at 9:42 am |
K // July 15, 2008 at 12:56 am |
have spent many idle/driving/eating/working hours thinking bout this…my 2 cents’ worth:
a. The 1950s were arguably the most original period of Indian cinema. Dutt, Ray, S Balachander, Raj Kapoor…Ironically, it is the only time when we were technically and creatively on par with Hollywood & Europe. Why? 2 Reasons. 1.We did not have a lot of access to Hollywood / European films of that time and 2. Those who did, were also strongly individualistic. Ray’s inspiration to make movies was ‘Bicycle Thief’, but he never made a similar film.
b. It is not just movies. Look at TV. Its miserable – especially the regional stuff. Most of it is tasteless and the rest are rip offs or worse, a franchise.
c. I disagree with T on the demand / supply thing. How many rip offs are made in a year? say 20? How many of them succeed? say 2-3? How many original scripts were made in ‘07? 4-5? how many succeeded? at least 2? Its less risky to be original
T // July 15, 2008 at 9:12 am |
And Kung fu Panda?
Basky // July 18, 2008 at 5:11 pm |
I felt Vishal Bharadwaj with Maqbool (Macbeth) and Blue Umbrella (Ruskin Bond’s book) were excellent adaptation, with prominent acknowledgment of source (books). I’ve not seen his ‘Omkara’ adaptation of Othello yet, so can’t comment about that. There is a fine set of individual talents here too, even if we consider only Bollywood. I find some actors (e.g. KK Menon) equal to the best that Hollywood can offer. But do we have their kind of appreciative audience that will spend money to watch the ‘hatke’ genre of movies that float between masala & art? Question: where would a Mira Nair movie (e.g. The Namesake) get slotted, in this context?
JustPathe // July 19, 2008 at 10:33 am |
@T:I dont think buying the ticket and watching a movie can be termed as demand. I believe a movie is a hit – or that you can identify demand – if two things happen:
1. If people come out happy they bought the ticket and watched the movie and acknowledge that the movie has infact touched them/their lives in some way, however insignificant.
2. They talk about it much after the movie is over and come back to watch it again or at least are open to the idea of watching it again – either by buying a ticket or playin a CD at home.
We all have a list of regrettable movie experiences in our lives – I watched a movie when I was in school called Low Blow which was so monumentally terrible you have no idea how it affected me. I wont be surprised if a psychologist traces back all my post teen trauma to this particular movie experience.
Hankok did not change my life or anything but I liked it. It appealed to me. Now thats a good movie. I also liked Kung fu Panda.
@K: Yeah, theres really something about knowing a movie or a song is a copy that immediately puts you off. I think you feel kinda let down. We all may have some creative expectations at the back of our minds to see or hear something new and fresh. When that need is not met, we are put off. Having said that, when a movie or a score is upfront about being based on a prior creative work, we shift our attention to looking for a shade of freshness to our own past experience with the older version and therefore dont really roll our eyes.
One line of acknowledgement is good enough for mature audiences to accept that it may just be inspired rather than copied.
@Bhasky: Do you remember Guide? That was a great example of an original book, story and plot adapted into an screenplay. It was refreshing and satisfying – even if you knew it was a take off from the book. Now that is something you feel happy watching, and proud about (thinking about Hitch and Partner right now as a contrasting opposite emotion
) . Blue Umberella, oh yes, I was thinking of it too when I wrote that post. Thats true about Namesake also. I watched it and did like it a lot. Unfortunately I havent read the book though.
K&B: Do you remember Dalapathi and the Mahabaratha connection? Can you recall how you felt and what you thought about it?
Basky // July 20, 2008 at 9:08 pm |
For an RKN fan, I haven’t read The Guide nor seen the movie (shame on me). But the music? Waheeda? Lajawaab…The Bongs (at least the directors) it appears are good at adapting novels into movies (Devadas, and a long list). But I still remember a movie from my childhood (Kohra – awesome music by HemantDa!) that scared me. Then I saw the original (Rebecca – Hitchcock). Not bad for a copy. Never got to see the novel though. In effect, equally good movie but with song-dance added for the audience’s convenience. But then it comes back to what you said, those were the times! I wonder why someone doesn’t film Ghasiram Kotwal…at least as a tribute to Tendulkar….
Basky // July 20, 2008 at 9:14 pm |
Dalapathi reminds me, there was a Hindi movie much before that, Kalyug, that had something similar. I vividly remember Shashi Kapoor (=Karna) trying to change his car tyre and gets bumped off, by Anant Nag (=Arjuna). Not a bad take, I reckon…
Basky // July 20, 2008 at 9:43 pm |
Dalapathi was a classic despite the Mahab connexn! But sure, it WAS fun trying to relate characters and incidents. Underrated superactor Mamooty didn’t get the award he deserved for this but I think he did for playing the uber-villain in “Vidheyan”, the screen adaptation of Pal Zacharia’s “Bhaskara Pattelarum ente jeevithavum”. I’ve read the translation, but not seen the film
K // July 20, 2008 at 9:53 pm |
As a kid, I was super excited about Dalapathi obviously, but its not a favorite and it will not even be in my list of Mani’s Top 5. The problem I had with the film was that it was an adaptation of Mahabharata (which is a fantasy tale), in a fantasy universe – as the world of Deva and Surya was not very real either. So I came out of the theatre in a ’so what’ frame of mind. However, I liked ‘Kalyug’ (1981) better. Benegal had adapted the same story in a very very natural setting (a mumbai business family feud). It worked purely on performances, as it had some of the best actors in the business!
Basky // July 26, 2008 at 3:48 pm |
“Kalyug” was a Benagal’s? Hmm. No wonder… A pity he doesn’t do them anymore…