Originally yours, plagiarized

Is the lack of good, new tales driving Bollywood to hang old classics by their tails?

Partha Chatterjee Delhi

Of late there is a craze of late in the Hindi cinema industry of Mumbai for remaking old hits. This perhaps hints at the total bankruptcy of fresh ideas in an industry which anyway is not exactly known for originality. That apart, the huge success of self-seeking, frivolous remakes of beautifully made old Bimal Roy films like Devdas and Parineeta in recent years by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Pradip Sarkar, has also made producers sit up.

The general belief in Bollywood these days is that success is smiling on those who dare to make garish but aggressively packaged remakes of old hits. The quality of the film be damned, state of the art technology (or something close to it) and an octopus-like marketing strategy spreading tentacles in all directions will set the cash registers ringing. Or, so it was believed. Has the lukewarm success of two recently released films, Don and Umrao Jaan, put a question mark on this strategy? 

Farhan Akhtar, who made his debut four years ago with Dil Chahta Hai, a sensitive coming-of-age story, suddenly lost confidence and did Lakshya, a routine jingoistic film on the Kargil conflict, written by his famous father Javed Akhtar. To put it mildly, its reception at the box-office was tepid. So, in an apparent act of desperation, he turned to an old 1978 Amitabh Bachchan super hit called Don, directed in the original by Chandra Barot.

Similarly, J.P. Dutta, a director of male-oriented, even macho films, had been feeling footloose after a string of so-so films in recent years. Although Refugee, with Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor in their maiden starring roles, was well made, it was not really a hit. He needed to do something different in order to get the audiences to look his way. What better way to be different in Bollywood than to conform? Dutta decided to remake Muzzafar Ali's Umrao Jaan, a huge hit from 1981.

Mirza Hadi Ruswa's eponymous novel about decadent Lucknawi aristocracy and hapless courtesans, set in 1857 and published in the 1890s, was the source of Muzaffar Ali's film. The novel is tough, at times poignant, though not well constructed. Ali's film had an affecting charm and was on the whole moving, despite being soft in the centre. Its success hinged on Rekha's thoroughly convincing performance as Umrao Jaan, the courtesan kidnapped in childhood and sold to Khanum, a leading kothewali of Lucknow who groomed her over nearly a decade into a leading courtesan. Khayyam's music from the film has endured. Songs rendered by Asha Bhonsle, particularly "Dil cheez kya heye aap meri jaan lijeeye" and "In aankhon ki masti ke parwane", continue to be hummed by listeners.

J.P. Dutta's Umrao Jaan is a strange mixture of a fashion designer's fantasy and an adman's understanding of the feminine psyche. It is designed like a fashion statement. Aishwarya Rai, purportedly the most beautiful woman in the world, is completely out of place as Umrao Jaan. And since both J.P. Dutta and she are completely innocent of the subtle intonations of Urdu, both her diction and pronunciation are inaccurate.

Shabana Azmi plays Khanum in this version; her mother Shaukat Akhtar played the same role years earlier in Muzzafar Ali's film and left a stronger impression. The choice of Anu Malik as composer is unfortunate. His music simply does not stand a chance against Khayyam's. One of Malik's songs is an inept reworking of O.P. Nayyar's marvellous "Aap Ke Haseen Rukh Peye Aaj Naya Noor Heye" from Baharen Phir Bhi Ayengi (1964). Of course, technically, Dutta's Umrao Jaan looks 'better' than the earlier one. It has the sheen of an expensive ad film while Ali's film is 'alright' visually. But if one were to go into the finer points of lensing and composition in relation to the treatment, then Ali would emerge the winner.

Farhan Akhtar's Don obviously has far greater technical polish than Chandra Barot's original from the late 1970s. Inputs from Satellite TV, easily available DVDs of the latest Hollywood productions, fashion magazines, live shows, and TV commercials have certainly enhanced the cosmetic look of the average Bollywood product (although it has also invested it with a certain sameness). To state the obvious, this Don looks much slicker than the old one.

The story though has been moved from Bombay to Malaysia. The new Don is an international player, not a local troublemaker for the police. The costumes, makeup, special effects, lighting, and camera work are far slicker than in Chandra Barot's film. Karishma Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ishaa Kopikkar look decidedly glamorous but do they have the charm and worldliness of Zeenat Aman who was the glamour element in the old?

Amitabh Bachchan carried the older Don on his shoulders and gave a zestful performance, winning the hearts of millions of viewers. In Akhtar's Don, Shahrukh Khan brings his customary nervous energy into play but does not manage to impress a large paying audience. Both Don and Umrao Jaan have not performed well at the box-office in their first run.

What, however, is intriguing is that the overseas collections of both these films have been noticeably better than at home. Is it because the bulk of the overseas Indian audience is young and has not seen the source films and is unlikely to do so? As far as they are concerned, Umrao Jaan and Don are new films from Bollywood and must be seen as such.

Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai have a huge fan following amongst the young at home and abroad. Any film featuring these favourite stars is a must see for them. Ash's ornate jewellery and costumes belong in a feverish fashion designer's imagination and do not accurately evoke the period setting in terms of class and character. But young Indian viewers abroad are likely to accept them as the genuine article because they know no better. Wags say Bhansali's Devadas was a huge hit with young NRIs because they thought Sarat Chandra Chatterjee was the name of a Hip Hop group!

As far as these two films are concerned, they do not carry the baggage of a past for most NRIs. But the opposite is true for Indian audiences. In India, there is always a tendency to compare a remake with the original, particularly amongst the middle-aged and the old. No matter how watchable Ram Gopal Verma's

Sholay may turn out to be, neither the Sippys nor the older viewers shall approve of it. Pritish Nandy's threat to do another Sahib Bibi aur Gulam or Ritu Parna Ghosh's effort to mangle Guide shall only be seen as publicity stunts by the audiences.

New, big budget Bollywood films are cosmetically good to look at. Dolby sound is there to deafen the audience too. But strangely enough, they lack heart and purpose. Good storytelling seems to have become a thing of the past.