Husband and I were flicking through the TV channels last night, trying to find something of interest.
We stumbled across a movie in Hindi called Daddy Cool that reminded us both of Death at a Funeral. As we continued to watch, we noticed that it was EXACTLY like Death at a Funeral, except with different actors and speaking a different language.
Although the occasional word or phrase is in English which screws with my head and makes me think I’m either imagining it or that the total immersion technique of learning a language is working suddenly and that I am interpreting Hindi into English at such a speed that it sounds like English… or something. But no. Sometimes, they just speak a bit of English. Especially when swearing.
This is apparently very common – (the remaking of movies, not the swearing in English thing). Bollywood totally rips off successful western movies. I have read that no rights are purchased, permissions sought or royalties paid for this.
Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye, a remake of The Wedding Singer has some Indian changes but is still basically the same movie. Ghajini is said to be “loosely” based on Memento, one of my favourite movies of all time. The movie poster for Ghajini is identical to the one for Memento, so I think the term “loosely” is interesting. I am keen to see Ghajini, so will be looking out for that one. Papi Gudia is a complete remake of Child’s Play – and a bad one at that according to the reviews.
There is an extensive list on this blog here, but some movies on that list are only “inspired” by Hollywood where as others, like Child’s Play and Daddy Cool are almost complete scene for scene remakes.
This website also covers the Bollywood remake topic. Have a look at these classic remakes of Three Men and a Baby and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. There is even a movie inspired by Harry Potter – I gotta see that one!
Regardless of the plagiarism and lack of creativity in Bollywood, these movies can be fun to watch and I’ll be looking out for more copycat movies to view just for a laugh.
For Immediate laughs, check out Indian Superman and his girlfriend Spiderwoman. Has Indian Lois Lane seen this?