The number of Hindi remakes of hit South Indian films that have bit the dust at the box office makes producers and distributors shudder. Because, though the original films have worked wonders at the box office, the remakes, have perhaps without even a single exception nose-dived at the turnstiles. This year the first casualty was Shaad Ali’s “OK Jaanu” a remake of the Tamil hit “OK Kanmani.”

Like “Badhai Ho Badhai” which was a remake of the Telugu hit “Shubakankshulu,” “Kya Dil Ne Kaha” which was the remake of the Telugu super hit “Swayamvaram,” “Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahe” which was the remake of yet another Telugu hit, “Kya Yehi Pyar Hai” which was the Hindi remake of the Tamil hit “Love Today.”

Shyam Shroff, the distributor with the Midas touch says, “If the remakes of hit South Indian films fail in Hindi, you cannot blame the makers. Because there is no guarantee that a remake will click as well as the original. Because nativity matters a lot. We decided to release both the Tamil versions of Rajeev Menon’s “Kandukondein Kandukondein” and Mani Ratnam’s “Kannathil Muthamittal” instead of going in for the remake versions or dubbed versions because we knew that if we tampered with the originals, the audience would not find it palatable. Our hunch proved to be correct.”

Sanjay Chhel observes. “”Swayamvaram” (Telugu,) was a proven hit. Yet when I decided to remake it in Hindi as “Kya Dil Ne Kaha,” I did not want to just make a xerox. I wanted to make the film suitable for an all-India audience by polishing the film and removing certain scenes, which reeked of the nativity. Maybe the audience did not find the film appealing because of that. I still cannot fathom what exactly went wrong
as far as the Hindi remake of “Swayamvaram” is concerned. Perhaps the taste of the viewer in Hyderabad or Chennai or for that matter Thrissur and Belgaum is quite different from that of the viewer in, say Bihar.”

The late producer Dr. D. Ramanaidu also had not been able to make out why both his last Hindi remakes of his own South Indian original films like “Aghaaz” and “Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahe” did not click with the masses. “When we own the rights of the original Telugu hits, we feel that we have a foolproof formula and hence we resort to making their Hindi versions. Basically, human emotions are the same whether you happen to be a North Indian or for that a matter, a South Indian. The reason why I feel our films in Hindi did not click is that the South Indian audience is far more progressive and literate than the Hindi audience since they are exposed to progressive themes whereas the Hindi audience still clamor for the mushy melodrama with larger than life characters who pander to the lowest common denominator,”he had confided to me, sadly.

Boney Kapoor, however, begs to differ. According to him, a film flops not just because it is the remake of a South Indian hit per se, but because it is a bad film. “I made “Sirf Tum” which was a remake of “Kadal Kottai.” The film was a hit though the same director’s next film “Hum Ho Gaye Aap Ke,” which was the remake of the Tamil hit “Gokulathil Seethai” drew a blank at the box office. I am now making “Shakti,” which is also a remake. I am also making the remake of “Anthapuram” and “Khushi,” which is the remake of the Telugu, hit “Khushi.” Yes. “Koyi Mere Dil Se Poochey” did not click though it was the remake of a Telugu hit because the audience could not digest the fact that the husband was offering his own wife to his friends when he was on his honeymoon…. However, it has not deterred me at all from making remakes. You win some, you lose some.”

Says Sayaji Shinde who acted in a pivotal role in “Baba” in Tamil with Rajinikanth in the title role. “Down South, the star is treated like a god. You should see the crowds, which throng whenever I shot with Rajanikant. He is treated like a demigod and people wait for two days to book tickets for his films especially since his film is released just once in three years. Here in Mumbai, no star has that kind of a big initial draw. At one time Amitji used to have that kind of initial craze. No wonder South Indian films perform better at the box office when you compare them with their remakes. All said and done, making a remake is any day a safe bet because the results are there in front of you and you can learn from trial and error as a filmmaker when you set out to make a remake.”

Satish Kaushik feels that what matters is the right script. “It does not matter whether you are making the remake of a hit Tamil or Telugu film or a straight subject. My “Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hai” proved to be a hit, though it was the remake of a Telugu hit. So also my “Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai” was a hit.
It was also the remake of a Telugu hit. However, my “Badhai Ho Badhai,” which was also a remake of a Telugu hit did not click at the box office. That has not deterred me at all. You cannot win all the time. I even made the Hindi remake of the Tamil hit “Sethu” with Salman Khan as the leading man.”

The remake bug bit even Subhash Ghai who made “Jab Dil Miley” with Arjun Rampal and Aishwarya Rai, the remake of the Tamil hit “Majnu.” The Telugu hit “Badri” was remade in Hindi with Tusshar Kapoor, Gracy Singh, and Amrita Arora. Pawan Kalyan and Ameesha Patel had played the leading roles in the Telugu original version. Yet another film Tusshar did was “Yeh Dil,” also a remake of the Telugu hit “Nuvvu Nenu” in which he was teamed opposite Anita, who had essayed the same role in the Telugu original.

Ketan Desai made “Yeh Hai Jalwa” which has been adapted from the Tamil hit “Ooty Varai Uravu.” Says Ketan, “If you buy the rights and make a frame to frame copy, your film may not run. Because you have got to adapt your original to suit the changing tastes of the audience. What the audience who had seen the original Tamil hit forty years ago may seem to be clichéd and contrived to the audience of today who are exposed to a better cinema. Even when you set out to make a remake you ought to be practical and make the subject topical to suit the liking of the audience today. Ketan is right, as the example of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Devdas” proved. While Sanjay Leela’s Devdas was made at a cost of Rs. 47 crores, clicked at the box office, Shakti Samanta’s “Devdas” (Bengali,) which had adhered to the original script of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, nose-dived at the box office.

Mumbai distributor Rajesh Thadani feels that it is too early to draw a conclusion that remakes and family films are out of fashion, going by the response to a few films like “Badhai Ho Badhai,” “Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahe.” “It just takes one single film to change the entire scenario. Besides there are so many factors that influence the business of a film, including the stars previous releases and the release timing of the film.”

The late Prakash Pange, the executive Producer of “Ye Dil” did not get unperturbed by the fact that a lot of remakes of South Indian films did not fair too well in the Hindi market. He reasoned that it is only because in today’s times, one gets to see socials on television every day and each show is simply fabulous. Just because socials are not finding favor on the big screen, it does not mean that love stories like “Ye Dil” with ample doses of action will not be lapped up, especially when the budget of the Hindi remake is pegged at four times that of the original.

As veteran actor Chandrasekhar put it succinctly, “Today’s makers lack that killer instinct which the makers had in the 60’s when producers like L.V. Prasad of Prasad Studios, Nagi Reddy of Vijaya Vauhini Studios, A.V. Meiyyappa Chettiar of AVM Studios and S.S. Vasan of Gemini Studios used to remake their own Tamil or Telugu hits into Hindi. When “Ek Duuje Ke Liye” which was the Hindi remake of the super duper Telugu hit “Maro Charitra” was ready with Kamal Haasan and Rati Agnihotri, distributor Gulshan Rai who had released all earlier films of Prasadji was not confident about the potential of the film that he offered to release it on a percentage basis and Prasadji had the last laugh when the film proved to be a golden mine at the box office.”

Today the situation is so bad as far as showbiz is concerned that in order to ensure a hit in their kitty, producers are ready to go to any extent. If they sense the potential, they will be more than eager to lap up the rights of a South Indian hit or plagiarize a Hollywood hit. Like David Dhawan made “Hum Kisise Kum Nahin” out of “Analyse This” and “Chor Machaye Shor” out of “Wait And Watch.”

If making remakes or adapting foreign hits do not yield a rich harvest at the box office windows– I for one would not be surprised if tomorrow our producers resort to stealing subjects from Korean films, from Spanish, Italian and Iranian films and make films in Hindi based on them. Ek Hit Ke Liye Saala Kuch Bhi Karega, seems to be the policy of the new breed of makers who neither possess the class nor the élan of the erstwhile filmmakers who had made all time great hits like “Sasural,” “Paighaam,” “Chandralekha,” “Grahasti,” “Gharana,” “Raakhi,” “Beti Bete” and “Khandaan.” It is indeed a pity. Isn’t it?

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