On Priyadarshan remakes and in defence of copy paste
People wonder why Priyadarshan keeps remaking Malayalam films (ones directed by him as well as others) in Hindi all the time and never really works on so called ‘original scripts’. In case you still haven’t heard this by now, his latest release “Chup Chup Ke” is a remake of, as usual a Malayalam movie, called Punjabi House. Well nothing new, though his last release “Malamaal Weekly” was a remake of an Irish movie called “Waking Ned Devine'”. But a remake none the less.
Back to the original question of why does Priayadarshan keep remaking his Malayalam movies in Hindi? Simple economics, conventional wisdom would tell us. In an industry where only sex and Shahrukh sell, Priyadarshan movies have done good business in the last few years.
His first film in Hindi, made in 1992, was the Jay Mehta (don’t ask me who he was?) starrer, Muskurahat, which was a remake of the Malayalam movie, Kilukalam. The movie did not do well. But the director repeated the formula again in 1993 and hit pay dirt with the Jackie Shroff starrer Gardish, which was a remake of the Malayalam movie Kireedam. And since then he has stuck to this formula (See table). Though at times the strategy has fallen flat on its face, as the director found out when movies like Doli Saja ke Rakhna and Saat Rang ke Sapne, flopped. But since the year 2000 when Hera Pheri (originally titled Raftaar) released and became a cult movie, the director has stuck to remaking Malayalam movies.
The economic reason though is a very conventional way of looking at the situation. The answer to this question I think is a little more complicated. As individuals involved in any creative field will tell you the temptation to fall back on one’s own past work is very high, especially if it has been received well. One it makes the job easy and more methodical, since you have already done it once before. The job now is about lifting an idea from one context and applying it in another.
If you take a look at the movies Priyadarshan has made in the last few years, there is a certain same ness in the making of it. Sample the actors he works with, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Om Puri, Shakti Kapur and gang find their way into most of his movies. I guess he’s the only director in Bollywood, who believes in giving his character actors meaty roles (Rajpal Yadav has more screen space in Chup Chup Ke than Shahid and Kareena put together). The sets are always done by Sabu Cyrill and all his laugh a minute riots usually have dialogues written by Neeraj Vora (who in fact has directed the sequel to Hera Pheri). So there is a certain method in the madness.
And the bigger reason is that the remake helps a good story reach a wider audience. Without the intention of hurting my Mallu friends (for the uninitiated, journalism is 50% Mallu and 50% Bong) I don’t have any immediate plans of learning Malayalam and I would have never had seen all these great comedy movies had Priyadarshan not remade them in Hindi.
And for people who have problems with his lack of originality, should take a look at the shameless copying of Hollywood movies the so called Bollywood greats indulge in. At least this man is bringing to us good original scripts written in India, so what if the language they were originally written in, is unknown to most of us. And most of the times the guy is copying his own work and in other cases gives due credit to the original source, unlike the way it is in Bollywood. Makes me wonder why are people complaining?
PS: As far as Chup Chup Ke is concerned, the first half is a laugh riot. The second half though has gone hopelessly wrong, with the director making the cardinal mistake of trying and failing to build in a story into the plot.
Another point, what’s Kareena Kapoor doing in the movie? Well, the only reason I see she is there is to prop up boy friend Shaheed Kapoor’s career. And of course she gets him in the end.
And finally, watch this movie for Rajpal Yadav…..he is awesome….and please walk out after the interval, or as a colleague suggested watch the first half two times over
Movie Name Original Malayalam Original Director
Muskurahat Kilukkam Priyadarshan
Gardish Kireedom Sibi Malayil
Virasat Thevar Magan Bharathan
Saat Rang Ke Sapne Thenmavin Kombathu Priyadarshan
Doli Saja Ke Rakhna Aniyathi Pravu Fazil
Hera Pheri Ramji Rao Speaking Siddique-Lal
Hungama Poochakkoru Mookkuthi Priyadarshan
Hulchul Godfather Siddique-Lal
Garam Masala Boeing Boeing Priyadarshan
Kyon Ki Thalavattom Priyadarshan
Chup Chup Ke Punjabi House Rafi-Mecartin
Source : http://varnachitram.com/2006/01/06/priyadarshan-and-bollywood/
Back to the original question of why does Priayadarshan keep remaking his Malayalam movies in Hindi? Simple economics, conventional wisdom would tell us. In an industry where only sex and Shahrukh sell, Priyadarshan movies have done good business in the last few years.
His first film in Hindi, made in 1992, was the Jay Mehta (don’t ask me who he was?) starrer, Muskurahat, which was a remake of the Malayalam movie, Kilukalam. The movie did not do well. But the director repeated the formula again in 1993 and hit pay dirt with the Jackie Shroff starrer Gardish, which was a remake of the Malayalam movie Kireedam. And since then he has stuck to this formula (See table). Though at times the strategy has fallen flat on its face, as the director found out when movies like Doli Saja ke Rakhna and Saat Rang ke Sapne, flopped. But since the year 2000 when Hera Pheri (originally titled Raftaar) released and became a cult movie, the director has stuck to remaking Malayalam movies.
The economic reason though is a very conventional way of looking at the situation. The answer to this question I think is a little more complicated. As individuals involved in any creative field will tell you the temptation to fall back on one’s own past work is very high, especially if it has been received well. One it makes the job easy and more methodical, since you have already done it once before. The job now is about lifting an idea from one context and applying it in another.
If you take a look at the movies Priyadarshan has made in the last few years, there is a certain same ness in the making of it. Sample the actors he works with, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Om Puri, Shakti Kapur and gang find their way into most of his movies. I guess he’s the only director in Bollywood, who believes in giving his character actors meaty roles (Rajpal Yadav has more screen space in Chup Chup Ke than Shahid and Kareena put together). The sets are always done by Sabu Cyrill and all his laugh a minute riots usually have dialogues written by Neeraj Vora (who in fact has directed the sequel to Hera Pheri). So there is a certain method in the madness.
And the bigger reason is that the remake helps a good story reach a wider audience. Without the intention of hurting my Mallu friends (for the uninitiated, journalism is 50% Mallu and 50% Bong) I don’t have any immediate plans of learning Malayalam and I would have never had seen all these great comedy movies had Priyadarshan not remade them in Hindi.
And for people who have problems with his lack of originality, should take a look at the shameless copying of Hollywood movies the so called Bollywood greats indulge in. At least this man is bringing to us good original scripts written in India, so what if the language they were originally written in, is unknown to most of us. And most of the times the guy is copying his own work and in other cases gives due credit to the original source, unlike the way it is in Bollywood. Makes me wonder why are people complaining?
PS: As far as Chup Chup Ke is concerned, the first half is a laugh riot. The second half though has gone hopelessly wrong, with the director making the cardinal mistake of trying and failing to build in a story into the plot.
Another point, what’s Kareena Kapoor doing in the movie? Well, the only reason I see she is there is to prop up boy friend Shaheed Kapoor’s career. And of course she gets him in the end.
And finally, watch this movie for Rajpal Yadav…..he is awesome….and please walk out after the interval, or as a colleague suggested watch the first half two times over
Movie Name Original Malayalam Original Director
Muskurahat Kilukkam Priyadarshan
Gardish Kireedom Sibi Malayil
Virasat Thevar Magan Bharathan
Saat Rang Ke Sapne Thenmavin Kombathu Priyadarshan
Doli Saja Ke Rakhna Aniyathi Pravu Fazil
Hera Pheri Ramji Rao Speaking Siddique-Lal
Hungama Poochakkoru Mookkuthi Priyadarshan
Hulchul Godfather Siddique-Lal
Garam Masala Boeing Boeing Priyadarshan
Kyon Ki Thalavattom Priyadarshan
Chup Chup Ke Punjabi House Rafi-Mecartin
Source : http://varnachitram.com/2006/01/06/priyadarshan-and-bollywood/
posted by Vivek at 4:27 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Vivek,
Chanced upon your blog via extrabed.in
True. But Priyan is also one director in Mallu who has given maximum hits and any mallu guy would remember atleast one scene/character of one of his films. They are so hilarious and famous and I love all his mallu ones. The remakes are good but I feel he is a guy who can do much better.
No doubt, the original ones are the best and were truly unique in their times of release!
Regards
sRi
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