Great stories travel across cinemas of different languages. This is especially true of Indian cinema — not only in the celebrated examples we have borrowed from the West, but also in the speed at which powerful ideas travel across Indian cinemas. So my first memory of Mani Ratnam’s film Roja is not in Tamil, but in the film’s Hindi avatar that went by the same name. The Tamil song Chinna Chinna Aasai became the equally evocative Dil Hai Chhota Sa Chhoti Si Asha, and none of the poignancy of the original was lost in translation. Though it may be argued that the story of a Tamilian wife struggling for justice in the Hindi heartland was more effective in the Tamil version, the Hindi film spoke equally powerfully to a pan-Indian audience.
But, like in Roja, it was more common for films to be dubbed in other languages during the 1990s. While other acclaimed films like Mani Ratnam’s Geetanjali had already been remade into Hindi, this does not compare with the growing trend of remaking Indian films into other languages that we have seen over the last decade. While Hindi cinema has always borrowed from south Indian cinema and vice versa — the successful remake ofRam Aur Shyam from the Telugu filmRamudu Bheemudu goes back to 1967 — such instances have been on the increase in recent times, and often with tremendous box office success.
While the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s often saw sensitive topics (Geetanjali, Saathiya), hard-hitting films (Dayavan) and social commentary (Virasat, Yuva) being remade for Hindi cinema, the last decade has been that of the big budget potboiler, which has hit the box office jackpot with regular succession.
Most often, as in films like Singham (remade from Tamil filmSingam), Rowdy Rathore (a remake of Telugu filmVikramarkudu) and Son of Sardaar (remade from Telugu film Maryada Ramanna), this is often done by simply borrowing the film’s story line, but not its director and cast. Few directors understand this better than Priyadarshan, with as many as eight film adaptations from Malayalam cinema to his credit. Though some of his earlier experiments of the 1990s were not successful, the tide turned with Hera Pheri. While not all the original films were directed by him, Priyadarshan’s forte lies in picking a great story idea and then completely immersing it in the cultural context of Hindi cinema. So while Hindi cinema audiences are familiar withHera Pheri, Hulchul and Bhool Bhulaiyaa, the original films — Ramji Rao Speaking, Godfather and Manichitrathazhu — are also well-loved and respected Malayalam films. Here, it is the language of wholesome entertainment that binds Priyadarshan’s work across languages.
In recent times, others like Mani Ratnam in Raavan have worked on Tamil and Hindi versions of their films separately — right from the inception stage. This is a new dimension for Indian cinema, where directors for the first time are even conceptualising their work in different languages for diverse audiences.
But some of the most celebrated remakes have been instances where the directors of popular south Indian films have themselves worked to recreate these films in Hindi. Take for instance the case of Kamal Hassan’s Chachi 420. Inspired by Mrs Doubtfire, Hassan created the hugely successful Tamil film Avvai Shanmugi. He then went on to adapt the film for a Hindi cinema audience — taking on the role of producer, director and actor. In recent times AR Murugadoss created two versions of the same experience with the Hindi and Tamil versions of Ghajini. Here the nuances and idioms of Hindi cinema become clearer.
While the Hindi and Tamil Ghajini are broadly similar (except for a difference in the conclusion), they are clearly made for two different audiences. As Sanjay Ramaswamy becomes Sanjay Singhania, the film’s principal characters move from being the boy and girl next door to towering larger-than-life personas. Glitzy glamour, metaphors of success and bright colours replace an almost rustic simplicity, and a flamboyant sophisticated entertainer emerges. But the essence of the original remains, with Murugadoss and Aamir Khan working tirelessly on the Hindi script to ensure that meaning was not lost in translation. The script was, in fact, first translated from Tamil into English, and from this came the final Hindi dialogue.
Yet, the stupendous success of Ghajini aside, the remaking a south Indian is in no way a sure recipe for box office success. While films No Entry, Housefull and Wanted have benefited from better production values and star power, laughing their way to the box, other successful south Indian films have not always been embraced by Hindi cinema audiences. Gautham Menon’s Minnale and Kaakha Kaakha have a huge fan-following among Tamil cinema audiences. But when Minnale was remade asRehna Hai Tere Dil Mein featuring Madhavan, Diya Mirza and Saif Ali Khan, the film disappeared without a trace. Both the freshness and cultural contexts of the remade Tamil film were not completely appreciated by Hindi film audiences. More recently Force — a remake of Kaakha Kaakha that starred John Abraham and Genelia D’souza, but without Menon’s direction — couldn’t repeat the kind of success it got in the south.
Clearly, these films are called ‘remakes’ with reason and a good story line alone is not enough to get audiences to participate in the success of a film. In these instances, films need to be virtually taken apart and re-made for a Hindi cinema audience. When remakes succeed there seem to be a combination of factors at play — a good story, backed by star power and a sustained marketing blitz.
While doing this, it becomes difficult for south Indian directors to retain their distinctive style that sometimes contributes in no small measure to the greatness of the original film. Mani Ratnam is the only south Indian director who has managed to do this with repeated success. Whether it isRoja, Guru or Raavan, his films are marked by a certain lyricism of locale, music and cinematography. In contrast, other remakes often bow to formulaic treatment. For instance when Manichitrathazhu became Bhool Bhulaiyaa, much of the greatness of the original was lost in translation.
Yet directors, who do retain their own distinctive style (like Mani Ratnam) or earn a reputation for a certain kind of entertainment (like Priyadarshan), have built their own fan-following. Others like Ram Gopal Varma now work more often on original Hindi films or even remaking old Hindi cinema.
nterestingly, while the remaking of south films has brought directors like Mani Ratnam, Priyadarshan and Ram Gopal Varma into Hindi cinema, there has been no similar movement among Tamil cinema actors. While most recent Tamil films that have been remade into Hindi have either Suriya or Vikram in the lead, neither of them have been considered for the Hindi remake. Clearly, an actor with sufficient clout at the box office — be it Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar or Ajay Devgn — is also needed to make a successful remake.
But when the experiment does succeed, there are gains for everybody involved. As the largest producer of films in the world, Indian filmmakers are always in search of new stories that they can win over their audiences. So they stand to gain from the acknowledged reconstruction of narratives that benefits both south Indian and Hindi cinema. Further, unlike in their borrowings from Hollywood, they can even collaborate with the original creators to reconstruct their narratives to new contexts.
In films like Singham, Ghajini and Bhool Bhulaiyaa, the Hindi remakes gained from the towering reputation of the south Indian original. For south Indian filmmakers, there is the opportunity to take their stories out to reach a pan-Indian audience, sometimes even drawing more attention to the original film that is the source of the remake. On the other hand, south Indian audiences who traditionally watch cinema in their own languages are often curious about the remake and flock to theatres in large numbers to watch the latest version of their favourite film. So, through Ghajini, director Murugadoss reached a pan-Indian audience, just as Aamir Khan was more closely watched in south India. For Suriya, the original actor in the Tamil version, there was increased national interest in his original portrayal of Sanjay Ramaswamy in Ghajini.
This week, as Murugadoss’ latest film Thuppakki releases in south Indian theatres, he is more respected as a Tamil film director with national appeal. Meanwhile, the Hindi remake of the film is already under pre-production. But here, Akshay Kumar replaces Vijay Kumar in the lead.
Clearly, both Hindi cinema and south Indian cinema are finding new audiences and making new icons. Besides the big bucks that filmmakers rake in at the box office, it is an opportunity for Indian cinema to build on this collaboration and extend its boundaries as well.
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