COPY THAT...HOWZZZAT!

What’s original these days? Nothing really...take Bollywood for that matter! LIFTING, COPYING, INSPIRATION,REMAKE,PLAGIARISM or IMITATION (Yes in ALL CAPS) are all the same as far as Hindi films are concerned and yet we feel offended and find it derogatory if our industry is referred to as Bollywood, but we don’t give a damn or even seem to care the least if we are constantly lifting content for films from our Western counterparts...now that’s the limit! Where’s the quality and what’s original these days?? Take our shoddily edited and produced animation films,in terms of quality, storyboard and treatment....can we confidently compare it to an Avatar or a Toy Story? We talk of stars remuneration running into 15-20 crores per film (surely the budget of the film has to be even more!) and yet we we don’t have the budget to think out of the box in terms of originality be it in terms of our story, scripting, treatment and even our production values! Pity! And about the casting the less said the better! I will discuss more about it later in this article. By now you must be wondering where is my rambling in this month’s posting ultimately leading you too....Well let’s get back to the start of start.

We all know and are aware of the fact that in the process of film-making, we have an ensemble of different people who play a pivotal part,they are the director, the producer, the actors, the technicians and the crew. The director/film-maker if I may say is just like a mother giving birth to a baby and the producer is the father if I may explain it in simplicity. It is after nine months of care,attention,love and efforts by one and all towards the expectant mother that a baby is born likewise it takes years of hard work before an idea comes alive on screen. So basically, it is the mother who is at the helm of affairs like preparing mentally and readying to give birth to a child. But it is only once the father comes into the picture that the birth of a child is likely to take place, the same is the relationship and the level of understanding required between the director and the producer.The father ensures that all that is required by the expectant mother during this process is always available to her whether it is her treatments, hospital visits or any indulgence! He is always by her side as they are wedded for life likewise is the case of the producer and director whose union is decided as a pact meant to either be forever or depending on the fate of their film at the B.O.

Now let’s understand it technically,the director has a vision which may be a story, a thought, an incident, an idea which he has lived with and nurtured all his life and has such a strong conviction about what he is about to procreate that he wants to translate it into a 120-135 minute drama depending on the genre.He has also visualized that who would be best suited to play the lead parts be it established actors, theatre artistes or if none from the current lot suits his imagination to play the lead part and other key characters he calls for an audition to scout for that talent or approaches a talent agency which has a database of wannabe actors/ actresses and lesser known artistes from the field of performing arts. 

Now to see his vision come alive on celluloid he approaches a producer, who broaches on the viability, the budget and the likeability of the subject depending on who it caters to whether it is a niche or a wider spectrum of audience. He in turn may either choose to produce and finance this project himself or in turn may approach a financier to fund it or may jointly collaborate on the project. Alright...we’ve now understood that it in the process of film-making the director’s and producer’s role is pivotal and must complement each other or the project goes for a toss.

The next most important part is the casting and the director conveys his choice of the lead and supporting actors to the producer and he arranges to have them on board after contractual agreements are agreed upon. Alternately, in the west we have a Casting Director whose role is an integral and important during the early production or if I may say during the pre-production stages of the film. The Casting Director upon getting the brief from the director,looks out for talent in his/her agency or other potential drama/performing arts school where he/she is in all likeliness bound to find the actor who fits the bill.And then the Casting director and the director continue to communicate till all the actors are on board. Now once the key people are finalized, the remaining cast and crew follow whose role is equally important in giving shape to an idea on the big screen, they are the scriptwriter,director of  photography,art director, choreographer,music director,lyricist,stunt directors,continuity departments and miscellaneous others.So, as we understand it is the director who brings life and soul into his baby. He is the mother,the captain of the ship and the jockey.

Take the case of James Cameron, he lived with the idea of his blockbuster film Avatar even before he made his masterpiece film,Titanic! Even the casting of Titanic was so apt...you really fell in love with Rose and Jack Dawson and you cried when Jack did not survive.Right from the beginning till the end of the film you are convinced that they are beyond two actors merely acting their parts, that they are a real couple and are actually going through this disaster and your level of involvement is so deep that you are hoping towards the last few moments of the film that Jack should survive this catastrophe and they live happily ever after. That’s the power of good story telling, the treatment and casting. And hold it...did you know that James actually built the whole ship and even went into the minute details of the cutlery served in the liner! And ultimately...he even broke the ship to make it look more realistic which went on to become one of the top grossers of all time and break previous box-office records!

Take another of James Cameron’s film, Terminator....no one could imagine anyone other than Arnold Schwarzenegger to play the title role of the programmed machine and to have such a futuristic concept written in the early eighties when computers and machines were at their nascent stage is really laudable....when you watch such films,it leaves you in awe and transports your thoughts into a different plane altogether with an imagination of endless possibilities! 

Take the role of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi....can you imagine anyone better than Ben Kingsley to play the part....he lived,breathed and died as Gandhi (I mean in the film!) If an Indian actor was playing the part then all through the film we’d have discussed how his make up was done and perhaps would also have discussed the actor and not have concentrated on the character...that’s precisely the way Sir Ben Kingsley played Gandhi with such aplomb that for a moment you forgot it was him!

The casting of Slumdog Millionaire was so real to life...after all it was Danny Boyle who gave us Latika (Freida Pinto) and Jamal (Dev Patel). Besides the casting,the subject and the treatment of the the true plight of India through a game show on the abject poverty and riot-stricken Bombay and how two brothers choose different paths in their fight for survival when the city lost her name to Mumbai.
Though it was adapted from a book...but it requires imagination, a good narrative and a treatment to write the screenplay for a film based on a literary piece of work.

The book can provide you with characters, a story, some moments but to bind all those chapters together and make it watchable as a whole requires a good director who should be a good story-teller too!

Horror stories don’t have to be scary like the Ramsays do in India...they can be loveable too....you know what I’m hinting at? Yes, the Twilight series...the love story of a vampire and a human being is such a unique concept altogether that one wouldn’t have imagined that a film as such could have so many series to its credit! And the lead pair selected to play the part of Bella and Edward would definitely be Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart and none else! By hindsight,could anyone have played this role better or let me put it,was anyone else better suited to play the part of Edward and Bella? And see how beautifully their chemistry unfolds on screen which leads us to theatres just to watch them.And now the buzz is that Mackenzie Foy, a cute and innocent girl (like Bella) has been chosen to play Bella’s daughter in Breaking Dawn (see pic) and decide for yourself!

In India, we often take a children’s film for granted...but in Hollywood they don’t. Take films like Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Iron man... who’d say they are meant for kids? But look at their appeal....from 6 to 60 everyone loves our comic book heroes! And technically, look at the lavish budgets, their production values and VFX...and their casting! Heath Ledger as the Joker had to be as convincing if not better than Jack Nicholson’s...but he surpassed everyone’s expectation and went on to win an Oscar year which was the first for a Batman film! Everyone loved Christopher Reeves,Tobey Maguire, Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr. who have essayed the roles of our superheroes with finesse in terms of their look and internalizing the character...again I’m hinting at what good casting and of course having a good director on board can do for a film. Take the success of The Dark Knight or even Batman Begins, it all goes to the director Christopher Nolan (who has even directed Inception and Memento)...the previous Batman films directed by different film-makers did not achieve half the feat which Nolan’s film received. According to imdb,The Dark Knight ranks #3 among the all time USA Box Office grossers of all time with a staggering collection of $533,316,061! See it for yourself the films made it to the top! http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross

Now coming to films made in Bollywood, I find that largely,the directors have virtually run out of ideas....they are just machines churning out films after films lifting scenes, copying posters,story ideas and many a times the whole film itself,in computer terminology,Copy and paste. So, there’s no originality, there’s no thinking really and one finds that anyone if given a chance to direct a film could make one! Yes..you could make one too!

Few films lately seemed to have caught my attention when I happened to read that they were ’inspired’ from an English film....they were,Step-mom was remade as We are Family,Emma as Aisha, She’s the Man as Dil Bole Hadippa and so many others....and the buzz is that they are planning to remake the rom-com,What Happens in Vegas and the Twilight series into a film and television soap namely....Can’t figure that out... really!! So...when people ask me that let’s watch a Hindi film...I just think what’s new about it...having watched so many English films...I am bound to find some similarities...so why waste your precious bucks then,I’d suggest go watch the original!! Film-maker Ravi Chopra has been in a legal dispute for more than a year over the copyright of his film Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai which is a pull off from the Hollywood flick My Cousin Vinny.I may not have seen all the films copied from the west but there are a few which do stand out where I found striking similarities overall....all in all there’s basically a blurred line of distinction between inspiration and imitation!

Before I discuss the films which I watched and found semblance, let’s come to the next most important department which is the Casting. This is actually a non-existent term as far as Bollywood is concerned...It’s like if abc can’t do this film then let’s take xyz....but they wouldn’t pursue the artiste convincing them that this role was tailor made for them. There’s no imagination really on who fits a given role to the T...it is subject to availability of his/her dates or perhaps haggling on payment issues etc...the less said the better!

Now coming to films by prominent film-makers who have chosen to produce/direct films copied from the west! When Dragonfly became Saaya - Mahesh Bhatt’s film directed by Anurag Basu was a rip-off from the Kevin Costner starrer,Dragonfly and guess who played the Kevin Costner?? John Abraham!! Now where’s the comparison...as I see the role required more intensity and maturity which perhaps Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan could lend to the role...but my basic question, why couldn’t we think of such a novel story idea earlier? After all the film is about a man who has lost his pregnant wife in a rescue operation and how she communicates with him about an important event in her life that took place moments before her death.

The Witness became Paap - Again from the Bhatt stable,the Harrison Ford starrer film The Witness became a sin literally spelling disaster at the B.O.!

It Started in Naples became English Babu Desi Mem -Not many may have seen Clark Gable and Sophia Loren starrer It Started in Naples and not surprisingly,not many may know that the Shah Rukh Khan-Sonali Bendre starrer film English Babu Desi Mem transported to India via Naples was a bad attempt altogether and having the Badshah himself couldn’t salvage the film from its imperative doom!

Sabrina became Yeh Dillagi - The Humphrey Bogart-Audrey Hepburn-William Holden starrer film Sabrina turned desi into Yeh Dillagi with Akshay Kumar-Kajol-Saif Ali Khan, directed by Naresh Malhotra andproduced by the maestro himself,Yash Chopra....Sabrina had a charm of her own...dunno about Yeh Dillagi, but the songs were hummable...by hindsight, I can never forget that it was an exact lift off from an English film including the fact that Kajol who plays a chaffeur’s daughter in the film was akin to Audrey’s character in Sabrina...at least they could have changed the profession,she could have been a gardener’s or the watchman’s daughter....no imagination whatsover!

And finally Dil Bole Hadippa became She’s The Man - Now in this film the Chopra’s managed to change the sport from football to cricket but the uncanny resemblance of the protagonist changing her garb from a woman to a man to play the sport was evidently noticeable and comparable if you happened to see She’s the Man!

These were just five of the films I have seen and elaborated a little....but given below is the list of some of the most popular ones in recent times...now read on and guffaw especially if you happened to see the original you’d know what I was talking about!

ORIGINALS - THE COPY CAT

Step Mom - We are Family

Emma        - Aisha

When Harry Met Sally- Hum Tum

French Kiss -Pyar to Hona Hi Tha

Consenting Adults - Ajnabee

What Lies Beneath - Raaz

Memento  - Ghajini

NineMonths-Salaam Namaste

Bruce Almighty - God Tussi Great Ho!

My Best Friend's Wedding- Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai

West Side Story - Josh

Collateral - The Killer

Lolita   - Nishabd 

Short film about Love - Ek Chhoti si Love Story

Dirty Dancing - Holiday

E.T.  - Koi Mil Gaya

Meet Joe Black- Shukriya

Unfaithful   - Murder

Suicide Kings - Plan

Reservoir Dogs- Kaante

Juno - Tere Sang

The Wedding Singer- Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaaye

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button- Paa

Three Times (Zui hao de shi guang/  Best of Times,Taiwanese film) - Love Aaj Kal

Death At A Funeral- Daddy Cool

                                                                          

Hope you enjoyed reading this month’s article....if you did or even if you didn’t,do not forget to write in! Take care and ciao until next month!

Love,

Sonyaa