Copy Cats of the Cinema World
Plagiarism is no big deal. It was prevalent 'yesterday' and is still prevalent 'today'. Plagiarism is rampant in our society in a big way. It is like a poisonous weed and its tentacles have spread far and wide, affecting people from all walks of life.We have these 'copy-cats' in the world of cinema as well. However, those
who are invovled in it think nothing about it. Some even boast that
their work is the original, at least in the initial period, until they are exposed. Later on they do confess, may be after they mature or because of 'Copy -Right' or 'Royalty' issues that could crop up or when they are already sued. But it only when big shots are involved, there is hue and cry. Let's take a round into this world of copy-cats.
1974 film ‘Manoranjan’,
which is perhaps the only Hindi movie, where prostitution was presented
as a ‘fun’ activity, without moralizing and the lead female character,
Nisha (Zeenat Aman) sleeps with men other the hero (Sanjeev Kumar) and
it was no issue. This film, though considered as a revolution in our
films, was a copy cat of Irma la Douce ["Irma the Sweet"]. The English movie was far superior in all aspects. But ‘that’s another story’, the line repeated on several occasions by Chez Moustache ( Lou Jacobi).
VERSUS
In a 2008 interview with the BBC, Shammi Kapoor revealed that he had planned to star in Irma La Douce since
the early 1960s when he first saw it in a theatre in London. He
originally wanted to play the role of Nestor Patau, the honest police
officer. However, by the time the film was made Kapoor felt he was too
old for the role, and Sanjeev Kumar was given the part. The films was shot at Mehboob Studios and Natraj Studios. Kapoor also directed a video magazine called 'Shammi Kapoor Presents Manoranjan' to promote the film.
The comparative review of these two films is beyond the scope of this article, and that's another story.
But I simply can not resist to compare these scenes from the two movies:
There
is certainly no dearth of 'talent' here. But everybody goes for easy
way out - ready- made cut out plots. Hence we have these 'copy-paste'
works. Of course, there are many out there, who do bring in fresh ideas
and creativity in their work.
Once
we, my brother-in-law, late Vasant Soparkar and I, were invitees to
one of the film -line -parties hosted jointly by Bholu Khosla and Jayant
Dharmadhikari. As the party was going on, Premnath and Bholu Khosla
sang songs - mostly K.L.Saigal's. Just as we can not have a juke box in
an operation theatre, we shouldn't have melancholy songs, however good
the songs may be, at least during such occasions. Bored us, would be an
understatement! Entered Feroz Khan. And then Premnath spoke, "I saw
'God Father and Feroz, let me tell you, you improved upon the movie." He
was comparing 'God Father' and 'Dharmatma'. He had audacity to boast in
this manner.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert Ruddy, Godfather, based on Mario Puzo's best selling novel, was one of greatest films in the world of cinema. One is simply transfixed to hear Don Corleone's (Marlon Brando) famous lines,"Someday - (with a distinct pause)- and that may nevercome - I'll call upoyou to do a service for me. But until that day accept this justice a gift on my daughter's wedding day." Michael Carleone's (Al Pacino) transition and transformation from reluctant family outsider to ruthless and tough Mafia Boss has been enacted superbly by the actor. There are several scenes in the movie, which give one goose bumps-like when Jack Woltz refuses to a role to Johnny Fontant, the famous singer and Godson to the Don, he wakes up in his bed with the severed head of his prized stallion by his side and thus he is persuaded to think otherwise; the hospital scene; killing of Sonny in a phone booth and many more. And yet people find ways to improve on the movie! Less said the better! Here are some frames from the movie:
Dharmatama ,1975 Hindi movie and the first Bollywood film to be shot in Afghanistan, and scenes featuring Buzkashi a Central Asian sport on horses, was produced and directed by Feroz Khan. The movie is the first attempt in our country to localise The Godfather. It had very cinematography, especiaaly fantastic aerial shots.However, the title character was based on ‘matka’ (gambling den) king Ratan khatri.
To learn more about him and understand the nuances of matka, Feroz Kha
actually sat with the matka king. It was a star studded movie with Feroz Khan, Hema Malini, Rekha, Premnath, Imtiaz Khan, Danny Denzongpa, Farida Jalal, Ranjeet, Helen, Madan Puri, Jeevan, Iftekhar and Dara Singh, Satyen Kappu and Sudhir. Kalyanji & Anandji scored the music. This blockbuster film, released with other big movies - Sholay and Deewar , took Feroz Khan to new heights in his career.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert Ruddy, Godfather, based on Mario Puzo's best selling novel, was one of greatest films in the world of cinema. One is simply transfixed to hear Don Corleone's (Marlon Brando) famous lines,"Someday - (with a distinct pause)- and that may nevercome - I'll call upoyou to do a service for me. But until that day accept this justice a gift on my daughter's wedding day." Michael Carleone's (Al Pacino) transition and transformation from reluctant family outsider to ruthless and tough Mafia Boss has been enacted superbly by the actor. There are several scenes in the movie, which give one goose bumps-like when Jack Woltz refuses to a role to Johnny Fontant, the famous singer and Godson to the Don, he wakes up in his bed with the severed head of his prized stallion by his side and thus he is persuaded to think otherwise; the hospital scene; killing of Sonny in a phone booth and many more. And yet people find ways to improve on the movie! Less said the better! Here are some frames from the movie:
There was Kamal Haasan’s Nayakan (English: The Hero), also spelt Nayagan, is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language crime-drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam and starring Kamal Haasan. It is loosely based on the real-life Bombay underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar and sympathetically depicts the struggle of South Indians living in Bombay. The film also stars Saranya Ponvannan in her film debut. Karthika, Nassar, Janagaraj Ganesh and Tinnu Anand play significant roles. The soundtrack and score of the film were composed by Ilaiyaraaja and was met with a successful response after release. The film has been inspired from Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film The Godfather.
VERSUS HINDI DAYAVAN
AND TAMIL NAYAGAN
In 2005, the magazine TIME included Nayagan in its list of "All-Time 100 Best Films". The film was also included in The Moving Arts Film Journals list of greatest films of all time. Nayagan was also included in NDTV's list "India's 20 greatest films". CNN- IBN included the film in its list of "100 greatest Indian films of all time".
The film was dubbed in Telgu under the title Nayakudu. A Hindi dub of the film was released in 1999 as Velu Nayakan.
It was not restricted to lifting from the English. There was sort of National Integration here. SOUTH to HINDI to MARATHI:
Kadhalikka Neramillai (English: No Time for Love) is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film produced and directed by C. V. Sridhar, who also conceived and co-wrote its script with Chitralaya Gopu. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Ravichandran, T. Balaiah, R. Muthuraman, Nagesh, Rajasree, Sachu, and Kanchana. The latter two made their debut in Tamil cinema with this film.
Pyar Kiye Jaa (प्यार किए जा) is a 1966 Hindi language movie directed by C. V. Sridhar starring Kishore Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Mehmood,Om Prakash, Mumtaz, Kalpana and Rajasree. It was a 'semi-hit' at the box office.The film is a remake of the Tamil comedy Kaadhalikka Neramillai (1964) which was remade into Telugu as Preminchi Choodu in 1965. Actress Rajasree starred in all the three versions of the film.
This was followed by the Marathi movie Dhum Dhadaka,
released in 1985. It was produced and directed by Mahesh Kothare
starring Mahesh Kothare, Laxmikant Berde, Ashok Saraf, Sharad Talwalkar
and Surekha.
FROM TAMIL Kadhalikka Neramillai
Looking
at the pictures it will be quite clear to you that all the remakes
(copycats) are scene by scene and frame by frame carbon copies of the
original.
Most
of the times, the original film is far better than its remake /
remakes. I shall make this one exception, though, for this one film - Sholay,
which is perhaps at least par with the original ones, if not better
than them. It’s no wonder that BBC called it ‘Film of the Millenium’! It is one of my favorite movies. This India’s first 70mm film had a number of ‘lifts’ from several films, English as well as Indian films. The idea for Sholay began as a four-line snippet which screenwriter pair Salim-Javed told G.P. Sippy and Ramesh Sippy; two other producer/director teams had earlier rejected the idea, it is said. Ramesh
Sippy liked the concept and hired them to develop it. The original idea
of the film involved an army officer who decided to hire two
ex-soldiers to avenge the murder of his family. The army officer was
later changed to a policeman because Sippy felt that it would be
difficult to get permission to shoot scenes depicting army activities.
Salim-Javed completed the script in one month, incorporating names and
personality traits of their friends and acquaintances.
They say the film was loosely shaped from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai, I don’t know because I haven’t watched that movie. But it was borrowed heavily from several ‘Westerns’, especially Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns such as Once Upon a Time in the West (1968),
especially the ghastly scene showing the massacre of Thakur's family,
which matches with the massacre of the McBain family in that film; and
some scenes match with those from John Sturges' film The Magnificent Seven (1960).
Sholay was also influenced by the westerns of Sam Peckinpah, such as The Wild Bunch (1969) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid(1973); and by George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). A scene depicting an attempted train robbery was inspired by a similar scene in North West Frontier (1959) and has been compared with Once Upon a Time in the West. Some plot elements were borrowed from the Indian films Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) and Khote Sikkay (1973) as well.
The character Gabbar Singh was modeled on a real-life dacoit of the same name who had menaced the villages around Gwalior in
the 1950s. Any policeman captured by the real Gabbar Singh had his ears
and nose cut off, and was released as a warning to other policemen. The character was also influenced by the villain "El Indio" (played by Gian Maria Volonté) of Sergio Leone's For A Few Dollars More (1965).
Villain El Indio (played by Gian Maria Volonté) in 'For A Few Dollors More'
And Gabbar in Sholay.
Soorma Bopali, a minor comic relief character, some say, was based on an acquaintance of actor Jagdeep, a forest officer from Bhopal named Soorma. While the others say he was a friend of of Salim – Javed. The
real-life Soorma eventually threatened to press charges when people who
had viewed the film began referring to him as a woodcutter.
So
you see, all the copy cat works are not bad. Mr. P.L.Despande's (पु
ल.देशपां) 'ती फुलराणी' was a very good Indianization or rather
Marathinization (मराठीत रूपांतर) of 'My Fairlady'. The Marathi play is actually based on George Bernard Shaw's play, 'Pygmalion' and the movie was its adaptation. However, my sister feels it is nowhere near 'My Fairlady' and
Audrey Hepburn definitely had upper hand as compared to Bhakti. Here
too, Bhakti (भक्ती बर्वे ) was far superior to all the other actresses
who were / are acted / acting afterwards in 'ती फुलराणी'.
Unfortunately, I have only this video clip of Bhakti and it seems a
video of the entire drama 'ती फुलराणी ' pertaining to Bhakti is not
available:
This
reminds me of one particular act of Jerry Lewis in‘Boeing Boeing, a
1965 movie starring Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis, where in one of the
scenes he does typing on imaginary type-writer, punching the make
believe keys with his fingers, ‘tick- tack, tick – tack, making the
viewers imagine that carriage rod is moving towards the right until it reaches the extreme right
with ‘ting’, pushes it back to the original position wish ‘swishhh’ and
continues with the punching tick- tack, ‘swiishhh’ with his right palm
and occasional ‘kar-kar’ with his left hand to twist the platen knob to
adjust the paper and continue and repeat the whole process. All the
those sounds of fingers punching the keys with ‘tick- tack’, the
carriage reaching the extreme right with a ‘ting’, the ‘swishh’ to shift
the carriage back,etc. was all done by the back ground score. The whole act was exact replica of the act of Purushottam Lakshman Deshpande (पुरुषोत्तम लक्ष्मण देशपांडे), popularly known by his initials पु. ल. or as P. L. Deshpande, and who was a writer humorist, accomplished film and stage actor, music composer, harmonium player, singer, and orator. This particular episode was from his play, बटाट्याची चाळ (Batatayachi
Chal) – 1958, where P.L. would do it live on the stage without the
benefit of background score to produce these sounds.
They
say that Mohamad Rafi's song from 'सरजो तेरा टकराये …’ sung in the
movie by Johny Walker and composed by Sachin Dev Burman was based on a
tune from British Movie ‘Harry Black and the tiger’. But the writer,
Abrar Alvi laughs
and says, “When the producer of the movie visited India and heard the
song, he not only failed to recognize it as his tune, but also commended
S,D. Saheb for the said composition. Similarly, two songs, sung by
Kishore Kumar, from ‘चलती का नाम गाडी’ – ‘हम थे वह थी ’which is supposed
to be based on ‘The Water Melon Song’ and ‘एक लड़की भीगी भागीसी ’ based
on ‘Sixteen Tons, both are far better than the originals.
(Unfortunately, I am unable to load these songs here.)
She
would tell me how he could raise his voice and sing in so high pitch,
perhaps after Pankaj Mullick, K.C. Dey and Pahari Sanyal that even Lata
Mangeshkar could reach half that scale and the others were fell far
behind. She liked the songs ‘Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein’ and ‘Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi’ from the movie and his other songs, like Diya Jalao in Raga Deepak from ‘Tansen’ and ‘Do Naina Matware’ .
Kundan Lal Saigal was revered and idolized by her generation and even
so by our generation as well. Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad
Rafi and Mukesh considered him as their musical guru. There is often a
debate about his acting. Some found very good, like my mother did. It
seems to depend upon your point of view. However, it should be
remembered that the talkies had just arrived in India at the time Saigal
was singing his songs and that those films were actually made in the 30s, during and after a world-wide depression, in a country with negligible resources
and with budgets that would make a contemporary producer burst
into tears. There was hand-held cameras, no trolleys, no zooming, no dissolves, no booms, the microphone into which Saigal sang the immortal and heart- rendering ‘baabula mora’, was carried by hand
behind him and the camera likewise. I know I straying away from the
subject, but then I couldn’t proceed without dwelling on K.L.Saigal. The
next in the row for me this:
It is not always that all the copycat works were bad. Some were even better than the original one. Again, it was not always the ideas / plots were stolen from the Hollywood. There was this film, ‘The Reincarnation of Peter Proud’,
directed by J. Lee Thompson. Though it was based on 1973 novel of Max
Ehrlich, it may have been, I am sure, influenced by Bimal Roy’s Madhumati (1958) मधुमती.
The American film, in turn, was adapted into the Bollywood blockbuster Karz (1980).
All the three film are all about reincarnation tales.
The American film, in turn, was adapted into the Bollywood blockbuster Karz (1980).
All the three film are all about reincarnation tales.
Madhumati was
not a mystery tale wrapped not just in riddles, but was a ghost story
covered in a reincarnation, turning a melancholy and tragic love tale,
capped by murder and suicide, into a tale of
hope,
of bond between souls so strong as to surpass death. The very opening
scene in the movie seems to be right from opening phrase of the 1830 novel, Paul Clifford by the English author, Edward Bulwer – Lytton, ‘It was a dark and stormy night, with rain falling in torrents…’ Anand's
(Dilip Kumar) car breaks down. Along with his friend, Anand seeks
shelter in a nearby mansion. Exploring the house, Anand finds a painting
of its former owner, Raja Ugaranarayan, and feels he has painted the
portrait. It is here that he gets a flashback of his previous birth, his
true love, Madhumati (Vyjayanthimala). The musical score by Salil
Chowdhury was simply fantastic, with folk based songs and gripping
background scores. Janam Janam, the 1988 Hindi movie starring Rishi Kapoor, was a remake of Madhumati and similarly Sharukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om lifted some plot elements from it but did not credit the earlier film. Subhash Ghai’s ‘Karz’ was partly inspired by The Reincarnation of Peter Proud but mixed in with Indian belief in’Punar Janm’ or reincarnation.
The theme of reincarnation was portrayed in ‘Kudrat (1981)’ and ‘Mehbooba’ as
well, but the modern twist with ingredients of murder and a revenge was
certainly a plot- boiler and had a different ending from the American
movie, where the leading character plays a negative role and also dies.
The music composed by Laxmikant- Pyarelal with lyrics by Anand Bakshi
was a treat, with trend setting songs and background music with the
signature tune of the duo. Karz
had all regular Hindi film masala - blend of elements - music (very
good one at that), romance, action and drama, designed to impart a
pleasurable viewing experience.The movie went on to inspire several other Indian movies, like ‘Yuga Purusha (Kannada – 1989),’Enakkul Oruvan (Tamil-1984), ‘Atmabhala (Telugu-1985) and the Hindi ‘Karzzzz (2008), starring Himesh Reshammiya.
In 1973 Hindi film ‘Namak Haraam नमक हराम’, is focused
on two friends, Somu (Rajesh Khanna) and his rich friend Vicky (Amitabh
Bachchan). Vicky, who has a fight with a union leader and later sends
his best friend Somu to grow bigger than the previous union leader.
However, Somu starts getting influenced by the ideals of workers which
leads to confrontation between the two friends. The theme was some what
similar to that of the film ‘Becket (1964). Amitabh’s
character matches with that of King Henry II of England (Peter O’Toole)
and Rajesh Khanna’s role matches with that of Thomas Becket, Archbishop
of Canterbury. Becket is appointed by Henry as Lord Chancellor so as to
have a close confidant in this position and whom he could completely
control. Instead, Becket becomes a major thorn in his side in a
jurisdictional dispute.
There were 'Remakes' of movies. The classic example of was Devdas. Devdas (Bengali: দেবদাস, Debdas; Hindi: देवदास, Devdās)(1917) is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (credited
in the movie itself as Sharat Chandra Chatterji) written when he was
only seventeen years of age and there were as many as 15 remakes after
the first one was made in 1927 in the ‘silent era’. The first one I saw
in my childhood in which K.L.Saigal played the title role of Devdas. To
me it was like watching a slow motion picture, even the dialogues were
delivered slowly…, “देवदास, (Devdas),…(there was a long pause) घ... र. ....(again a pause) च.... लोगे?"
[gh ..a…(again a pause) r chalo..ge”] I thought the dialogues would
never end at this rate. But my mother thought it was fantastic - acting,
songs, simply fantastic to her.
And then this one:
| YEAR |
NAME
|
LANGUAGE
|
DIRECTOR
|
CAST
|
|||
Devdas
|
Paro
|
Chandramukhi
|
|||||
1]1927
|
Devdas
|
Silent
|
Naresh Mitra
|
Phani Sarma
|
Tarakbala
|
Niharbala /
Miss Parul
|
|
2]1935
|
Devdas
|
Bengali
|
P.C.Barua
|
P.C.Barua
|
Jamuna Barua
|
Chandrabati Devi
|
|
3]1936
|
Devdas
|
Hindi
|
P.C.Barua
|
K.L. Saigal
|
Jamuna Barua
|
Rajkumari
|
|
4]1937
|
Devdas
|
Assamese
|
P.C.Barua
|
Phani Sarma
|
Zubeida
|
Mohini
|
|
5]1953 also known as "Devadasu"
|
Devdas
|
Telgu/Tamil
|
Vedantam Raghavaiah
|
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
|
Savitri
|
Lalitha
|
|
6]1955
|
Devdas
|
Hindi
|
Bimal Roy
|
Dilip Kumar
|
Suchitra Sen
|
Vyjayanthimala
|
|
7]1965 Pakistani film
|
Devdas
|
Urdu
|
Khawaja Sarfaraz
|
Habib Taalish
|
Shamim Ara
|
Nayyar Sultana
|
|
8]1974
|
Devdas
|
Telgu
|
Vijaya Nirmala
|
Ghattamaneni Krishna
|
Vijaya Nirmala
|
Jayanthi
|
|
9]1979 also known as"Debdas"
|
Devdas
|
Bengali
|
Dilip Roy
|
Soumitra Chatterjee
|
Sumitra Mukherjee
|
Sumitra Mukherjee
|
|
10]1982 Bangladeshi film
|
Devdas
|
Bengali
|
Chashi Nazrul Islam
|
Bulbul Ahmed
|
Kabori Sarwar
|
Anwara
|
|
11]1989
|
Devdas
|
Malyalam
|
Crossbelt Mani
|
Venu Nagavally
|
Parvathy
|
Parvathy
|
|
12]2002
|
Devdas
|
Bengali
|
Shakti Samanta
|
Prasenjit Chatterjee
|
Arpita Pal
|
Indrani Halder
|
|
13]2002
|
Devdas
|
Hindi
|
Sanjay Leela Bhansali
|
Shahrukh Khan
|
Aishwarya Rai
|
Madhuri Dixit
|
|
14]2009
|
Dev D A modern-day take on Devdas
|
Hindi
|
Anurag Kashyap
|
Abhay Deol
|
Mahi Gill
|
Kalki Koechlin
|
|
15]2010
|
Devdas
|
Urdu
|
Iqbal Kasmiri
|
Nadeem Shah
|
Zara Shaikh
|
Meera
|
|
16]2013
Bangladeshi film
|
Devdas
|
Bengali
|
Chashi Nazrul Islam
|
Shakib Khan
|
Apu Biswash
|
Moushumi
|
Versatile
Gulzar Saab has also made his mark in film direction and all his films
were critically acclaimed and are even considered classics. His first
film was ‘Mere Apne’ 'मेर अपने'' (1971)’, starring Meena Kumari), which was a remake of a Bengali film ‘Apanjan’ 'আপনজন ' (1969), directed by Tapan Sinha.
It was almost a frame by frame remake of the original Bengali film. Vinod
Khana (as Shyam) and Shatrughan Sinha (as Chennu) were in lead roles
and older Meena Kumari was playing the lead role of the widow Anandi,
fondly called ‘Nani Maa’ (नानी माँ) . Deven Verma in a cameo role of
Niranjan, her argumentative but very warm- hearted husband of Anandi and
who gets killed after his meeting with a revolutionary.
Mere Apne is
a rich film taking on many social evils – the double-edged sword of
neglect and exploitation of old people, the erosion of traditional
values, the waste laid to the younger generation by the corruption and
violence of politics. And
when Anandi is struck down senselessly, it is more than just an
individual's tragedy. It is a representative tragedy that reflects an
entire generation's sense of hopelessness.
It
featured some gifted actors and dealt with turbulent issues that are so
relevant even today. A directorial debut for the peerless Gulzar and a
farewell act by the legendary Meena Kumari assures the viewer a
spellbinding experience. There is not an instance of triviality in the
film, rather it stands out for its treatment of the subject. Every
character is given the place it deserves and Meena Kumari, playing the
role of Anandi to perfection, dominates the screen with a controlled
performance, her interaction with the disillusioned and misguided youth
was a treat to watch. The melancholy, tragedy and her fondness for the
two rival street gangs, headed by two former friends Shyam, (Vinod
Khana) and Chhennu ( Shatrughan Sinha), turned foes and all the
gang-fights have been beautifully portrayed. Anandi’s falling victim to
accidental cross firing between Shyam and Chhenoo and then Nani ma being
taken away in an ambulance, leaving behind her footwear, one over the
other, were all stunning.
In of one of the interviews, Gulzar Saaheb has said, “ Films have only changed as much as the society has changed. Society has changed as much as you have changed. So if you are not the same person how can films remain the same? As much as you have urbanized, your education has urbanized and your lifestyle has urbanized, so have the films. Villages are not to be seen in today’s films. Most of the characters are foreign-returned because most of the filmmakers are from that society. They would only pick subjects from the environment they have lived in. That is why we are getting the kind of films which we are getting. Cinema does reflect the society but it alters its tone. Compare the level of crime and terrorism shown in films to the real scenario. You can judge the ratio for yourself. Cinema shows very little, that too with background music. The real terror is out there where there is no music and the blood is real. But if only one can see or read something in real life, 100 more people can access the same thing through cinema. It elevates everything to a larger-than-life level and that is where the tone goes up.”
In of one of the interviews, Gulzar Saaheb has said, “ Films have only changed as much as the society has changed. Society has changed as much as you have changed. So if you are not the same person how can films remain the same? As much as you have urbanized, your education has urbanized and your lifestyle has urbanized, so have the films. Villages are not to be seen in today’s films. Most of the characters are foreign-returned because most of the filmmakers are from that society. They would only pick subjects from the environment they have lived in. That is why we are getting the kind of films which we are getting. Cinema does reflect the society but it alters its tone. Compare the level of crime and terrorism shown in films to the real scenario. You can judge the ratio for yourself. Cinema shows very little, that too with background music. The real terror is out there where there is no music and the blood is real. But if only one can see or read something in real life, 100 more people can access the same thing through cinema. It elevates everything to a larger-than-life level and that is where the tone goes up.”
Gulzar then made ‘Parichay’ ‘परिचय’ (starring Jeetendra and Jaya Bachchan) which was partly based on a Bengali novel, ‘Rangeen Uttarain’ by Raj Kumar Maitra and partly inspired from the American film ‘The Sound of Music’(1965), while ‘Angoor’ (1982) was his take on Shakespeare's play ‘The Comedy of Errors’. He had worked
with stalwarts like Bimal Roy, Salil Chowdhary, SD Burman, RD Burman,
Madan Mohan and the others. They say, he instructs the actors to the
hilt, enacting the whole scene for his actors and asking them to the
same.
In ‘Parichay’ ‘परिचय', we see complete 'image' transformation of Jeetendra from his 'Jumping jack in skin tight jeans personality of films like 'Farz''फ़र्ज़' to sober
and quiet performance as a private tutor with a loud ‘second track’
inside his head. The plots of both the movies are not the same.
‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'
And then again:
The story lines of both these films are not entirely the same. Moreover, ‘The Sound of Music’ was adaptation of the 1959 Broadway Musical of the same name, which was in turn based on the memoir ‘The Story of the Trapp Family Singers’ by Maria von Trap and hence some of characters in the story are real –life characters.
Maria married Georg von Trapp in
1927, not 1938 as portrayed in the musical. She initially fell in love
with the children rather than the father and only later came to love
him. The father was not the aloof patriarch who disapproved of music but
a warm gentle-hearted parent. They also left Austria openly by train
and not how it is shown in the movie – The von Trapp family slipping
away after their performance at the festival, seeking shelter at the
abbey, hiding in the cemetery, and finally crossing on foot across the
mountain escaping from the hostile Germans to Switzerland and to
freedom – it is all a fiction. However, the entire episode has a lot of
drama, suspense and thrill.
The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews (as Maria) and Christopher Plummer(Julie Andrews as Maria, a young Austrian woman studying to become a nun), Christopher Plummer (as Captain von Trapp, a retired Austrian naval officer), Eleanor Parker (as the Baroness, Elsa von Schraeder), Charmian Carr (as Liesl, the first and eldest child), Nicholas Hammond (as Friedrich, the second child), Heather Menzies (as Louisa, the third child), Duane Chase (as Kurt, the fourth child and younger boy), Angela Cartwright(as Brigitta, the fifth child) (Debbie Turner (as Marta, the sixth child) and Kym Karath (as Gretl, the seventh and youngest child)
Angoor , is a 1982 Bollywood Hindi comedy film starring Sanjeev Kumar (as Ashok Tilak) and Deven Verma (Bahadur) in dual roles, and directed by Gulzar. It is a remake of the 1963 Bengali comedy film Bhranti Bilas (starring Uttam Kumar) that is based on Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's Bengali novel by the same name which itself is based on Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors, which is one of William Shakespeare’s early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. All
characters are innocent and destiny plays the main role in bringing all
characters to one place. Most of the other films are generally based on
false characters and deliberately make false statements to fool others.
The star cast was Moushmi Chatterjee (as Ashok’s wife, Sudha), Deepti
Naval (as Sudha’s sister, Tanu), Deven verma (as Bahadur, Ashok’s
servant), Aruna Irani (as Bahadur’s wife, Prema),and others.
The
film is about two pairs of identical twins separated at birth and how
their lives go haywire when they meet in adulthood. Earlier ‘Do Dooni Char’,1968 Bollywood musical was made and which is also a loose remake of the 1963 Bengali film, Bhranti Bilas. The star cast of ‘Do Dooni Char’ was Kishore Kumar (as Sandeep), Asit Sen (as Sevak, his servant), Tanuja (as Anju, Sandeep’s wife) and others.
The Comedy of Errors tells
the story of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally
separated at birth (Shakespeare was father to one pair of twins).
Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus,
which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of
Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans
encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild
mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus, and false accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and demonic possession.
In 1940 the film ‘The Boys from Syracuse’ was released, starring Alan Jones and Joe Penner as Antipholus and Dromio. It was a musical, loosely based on ‘Comedy of Errors’ and the film ‘Big Business’ is
the modern take, with female twins instead of male. Bette Midler and
Lily Tomlin star in the film as two sets of twins separated at birth,
much like the characters in Shakespeare's play. But the farce that
unfolds is quite different’
In 1978 the USSR launched a film ‘Comedy of Errors’.
Indian cinema has made six films based on the play, 1963 Bengali film - Bhranti Bilas(starring Uttam Kumar) , Do Dooni Char, Angoor, Kannada - Ulta Palta (starring Ramesh Aravind), Telugu - Aamait Asal Eemait (starring Naveen D Padil), and 2014 Punjabi - Double Di Trouble (directed by Smeep Kang, and starring Dharmendra, Gippy Grewal).
The concluding piece of this article will about another good ‘copy’ or adaptation - Satte Pe Satta
सत्ते पे सत्ता, of 1954‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’. Nevertheless, as mentioned , it is a good entertainer. It is a Hindi action comedy film of 1982. It is a star studded movie, with Amitabh Bachchan (as Ravi Anand
as well as Babu), Hema Malini (as Indu),Sudhir (as Shom), Shakti Kapoor
(as Mangal), Paintal (Budh), Kanwaljit (as Guru), Vimal (Shukra),
Shachin (as Shani), Ranjeeta, Vijayendra, Sarika, Goga Kapoor, Mac
Mohan. Amjad Khan and others.
Like
in the American movie is the story of seven brothers, the younger
brothers being orphans are uneducated, unsophisticated, bumpkins, rowdy,
ill-behaved and lack social etiquette and hygiene. Here too, all the
brothers are named in chronological order of seven days of the week (in
Hindi), starting with Ravi(Sunday) to Shani (Saturday) just as in ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’, the brothers were named alphabetically from the Old Testament - Adam,
Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank (short for Frankincense, the
Old Testament having no names beginning with F), and Gideon. The role of
Ravi (Amitabh) matches with that of Adam and Indu (hema Malini) fits in
the role of Milly. Introduction of other characters like those enacted
by Sarika, Ranjeeta ,Amjad Khan,etc. are the requisite elements or ‘Hindi Mal –masala’
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers had
unusual choreography, which made the dance numbers of simple worldly
acts of ‘chopping of wood’ and ‘raising a barn’look outstanding. It had
several rousing dance numbers.
It was during my schooling days that I had been to :
‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'
And then again:
There was a story by Mark Twain – ‘The Million Pound Bank Note’, and based on this short story, Alexander Korda directed a Hungarian silent movie in 1916, ‘The One Million Pound Note’. Then in 1952 came the Marathi film लाखाची गोष्ट (Lakhachi Goshta) 1952 (Director: Raja Paranjpe), starring
Chitra, Rekha, Raja Gosavi, Indira Chitnis, Ravindra, Sharad Talwalkar, Raja Paranjpe, Madan Mohan and G. D. Madgulkar. However, the idea was taken from the Mark Twain’s story. But the story line was bit different, in this movie, the hero – the poet (Raja Gosavi) is supposed to spend Rupees one lakh within in a month; whereas in The Million Pound Note’, our hero Henry Adams (Gregory Peck) has to return the one million pound note given to him by the eccentric brothers by the end of 30 days. In fact, the British was released after the Marathi film. In 1954, British comedy, ‘The Million Pound Note’, directed by Ronald Neame , based on the Mark Twain short story and starring Gregory Peck. It is based on the Mark Twain short story.
Chitra, Rekha, Raja Gosavi, Indira Chitnis, Ravindra, Sharad Talwalkar, Raja Paranjpe, Madan Mohan and G. D. Madgulkar. However, the idea was taken from the Mark Twain’s story. But the story line was bit different, in this movie, the hero – the poet (Raja Gosavi) is supposed to spend Rupees one lakh within in a month; whereas in The Million Pound Note’, our hero Henry Adams (Gregory Peck) has to return the one million pound note given to him by the eccentric brothers by the end of 30 days. In fact, the British was released after the Marathi film. In 1954, British comedy, ‘The Million Pound Note’, directed by Ronald Neame , based on the Mark Twain short story and starring Gregory Peck. It is based on the Mark Twain short story.
A
poet (Gosavi) loves a kindly radio singer while his painter friend
loves the daughter of a millionaire. The millionaire agrees to his
daughter’s marriage provided the painter can demonstrate his ability to
live in luxury by spending Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) within a month.
However, the money he spends keeps making profits. The comedy depends
mainly on Madgulkar’s incisive dialogue and a cast including several
well-known Marathi comedians such as Gosavi and Talwalkar. Gosavi, a
former bank clerk, made his debut here and went on to become a major
Marathi stage and screen comedian, associated with deadpan dialogue. All
the changes were made to suit the Indian scenario.
In 1959 we read this shocking news,
Kawas
Manekshaw Nanavati's British wife Sylvia fell in love with his friend
Prem Ahuja who, when confronted by Commander Nanavati, reportedly
refused to marry Sylvia in the event of a divorce; on the night of the
shooting, Sylvia Nanavati and her three children were sent off to watch a
movie by Commander Nanavati, who then collected his pistol from the
Naval base, went to Prem Ahuja's home, asked him if he would marry
Sylvia, was refused, fired three shots at him and then went directly to
confess to his superior at Western Naval Command. Commander Nanavati was
advised to surrender to the police and he did.
The trial that followed had all the makings of a Bollywood blockbuster and public support for Commander Nanavati was massive. Parsis held rallies, the Navy backed him, film magazine Blitz ran a prolonged campaign in favour of Commander Nanavati. The prosecution, led by Ram Jethmalani, failed to get a conviction in the Sessions Court - Commander Nanavati was acquitted and the jury system itself was later abolished. Picture abhi bhi baaki tha: the Bombay High Court sentenced to Commander Nanavati to life imprisonment but Blitz was still campaigning for the man they portrayed as a patriotic naval officer and wronged husband. After three years in prison, Commander Nanavati was pardoned by Vijalakshmi Pandit, then the Governor of Maharashtra.
The trial that followed had all the makings of a Bollywood blockbuster and public support for Commander Nanavati was massive. Parsis held rallies, the Navy backed him, film magazine Blitz ran a prolonged campaign in favour of Commander Nanavati. The prosecution, led by Ram Jethmalani, failed to get a conviction in the Sessions Court - Commander Nanavati was acquitted and the jury system itself was later abolished. Picture abhi bhi baaki tha: the Bombay High Court sentenced to Commander Nanavati to life imprisonment but Blitz was still campaigning for the man they portrayed as a patriotic naval officer and wronged husband. After three years in prison, Commander Nanavati was pardoned by Vijalakshmi Pandit, then the Governor of Maharashtra.
Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, his wife Sylvia and their three children emigrated to Canada and lived happily ever after till his death in 2003.
It was a readymade plot for Bollywood, which capitalized on the dramatic and romantic possibilities of the case with two films - 1963's Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke and 1973's Achanak.
Sunil Dutt produced as well as starred in the 1963 version as the husband Anil Sahni, with Leela Naidu playing his wife Nina and Rehman as her lover Ashok Srivastava. Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke changed some key details of the real case - the Parsi Naval officer was replaced by a Punjabi airline pilot who plays hockey for India and is described in court as his 'rangeen' wife's 'shikar.' Ashok Kumar played the defence counsel, who delivers an impassioned summing up portraying Anil Sahni as the 'bekusoor' victim of Ashok Srivastava's 'zaleel harkat.' His tirade is wryly described as an 'actor's performance on stage' by Motilal as the prosecuting lawyer.
10 years later, Gulzar made Achanak,
a far grittier take on the Nanavati affair that dispensed with
Bollywood niceties like songs and the unassailable innocence of the
hero. Achanak changed
the Naval Commander of life to an Army Major, played by Vinod Khanna,
who kills not just his wife's lover but the wife herself, played by Lily
Chakraborty. Like K M Nanavati, Major Ranjeet gives himself up to the
police - unlike the real case, which was sensational enough, Achanak has Major Ranjeet escape from custody so he can throw his dead wife's mangalsutra into
the river. He is shot by cops and hospitalized, after which the focus
of the film shifts to the relationship he builds with his doctor and
nurse.
Achanak, nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Story, sentenced its antihero to death by hanging, something the jury that tried K M Nanavati failed to do.
Actor Iftekhar appeared in both films, playing Ashok Kumar's deputy in Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke and Vinod Khanna's commanding officer and father-in-law in Achanak.
Achanak, nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Story, sentenced its antihero to death by hanging, something the jury that tried K M Nanavati failed to do.
Actor Iftekhar appeared in both films, playing Ashok Kumar's deputy in Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke and Vinod Khanna's commanding officer and father-in-law in Achanak.
The
idea behind this article is not to demean anyone. Neither it is to ask
anyone to stop being a ‘copy cat’. Copy the old ‘work’, my all means.
That’s your prerogative. No one can stop you from doing it. If you want
to improve upon it, you are better equipped these days, have advanced
technology. But why boast that it is your work when you are aware it
isn’t. You may or may not have done a better job. Let the audiences and
viewers decide that. There will be debates and criticism. There will be
good reviews and bad. Take all that in your stride. Make ‘Copies’ and
‘Remakes’. Again, that is your prerogative. But be bold enough to
acknowledge and admit the source then at least you will not be called
plagiarist.
Vinay Trilokekar
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