The art of Copy-Cut-Paste

The art of COPY-CUT-PASTE
By shazia raza

Originality is a term conspicuous by its very absence in Bollywood. Remake, Inspiration, Tribute-whatever may be the excuse, there's no denying to the fact that there's a dearth of original ideas in Bollywood. Though not high on creativity, at least these filmmakers have mastered the art of 'Copy-Cut-Paste', which is no less challenging. As per the requirements of this art, these filmmakers need to Copy the original film, Cut out what's unnecessary or objectionable with respect to Hindi cinema and Paste the requisite amount of masala to Bollywoodize it, which most often comes in the form of song-dance, melodrama and things alike.

Moreover gone are the days when audiences (and even critics) groused on rehashed versions. Off lately the viewers have lived up to remakes. As far as the final product is engaging, audiences no more mind adaptations. Talking about 2004, like every other year this year too had it's share of reworks. East, West, North or South, the filmmakers didn't hesitate to borrow inspiration from any directions. The level of inspiration varied from film to film.

Paisa Vasool	High Heels and Low Lives
Aetbaar	Fear
Paap	Witness
Hawas	Unfaithful
Who	Red Rock West
Murder	Unfaithful
Masti	The Seven Year Itch
Yuva	Amores Perros
Hum Tum	When Harry Met Sally
Mujhse Shaadi Karogi	Anger Management
Ishq Qayamat	Unfaithful
Phir Milenge	Philadelphia
Hum Kaun Hai	The Others
Rakht	The Gift
Tumsa Nahin Dekha	Arthur
Shukriya	Meet Joe Black
Inteqam	Basic Instinct
Naach	In The Mood For Love
Ab…Bas	Enough
Musafir	U -Turn
Aabra Ka Dabra	Harry Potter series
Tum?	Summer of 42'
Krishna Cottage	The Ring
Deewar	The Great Escape
Taarzan – The Wonder Car	Christine
Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa	Return To Me
Aitraaz	Disclosure

The Bollywood recycle factory

Popcorn Khao MAST Ho Jao can easily be tagged as a zillionth version of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Rok Sako To Rok Lo essentially had shades of Mansoor Khan's Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, which in turn was a remake of Breaking Away. Even the paltry Kaun Hai Jo Sapno Mein Aaya coming from the aptly titled production house 'Inspired Film' was directly inspired from the parivar sudharo andolan film like Biwi Ho To Aisi, Bawarchi, Hero No. 1, et al. with a Kal Ho Naa Ho kinda climax.

In 2005

The year 2005 also assure a hoard of rephrased works coming your way. Just check out the formal list as of now. (There might be a lot more inclusions by the year end).

Sarkar	The Godfather (Eng)
Rang	One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest (Eng)
Main Aisa Hi Hoon	I Am Sam (Eng)
Jaane Hoga Kya	The 6 th Day (Eng)
No Entry	Charlie Chaplin (Malayalam)
Jo Bole So Nihaal	Crocodile Dundee (Eng)
Bold	Phool Bane Angaray (Hindi)
Anjaane- The Unknown	The Others (Eng)
Ae Watan	Shaheed (Hindi)
Teri Meherbaniya	Teri Meherbaniya (Hindi)

Blatant remakes:

Unfaithful had 3 Hindi versions in 2004 itself – the biggest hit of the year Murder, the average grosser Hawas and the less known Ishq Qayamat. Apart from the content, the makers of Ab Bas even derived the movie title from the original English film Enough with a literal translation. Thrillers like Rakht and Hum Kaun Hai were self-proclaimed remakes of The Gift and The Others respectively. More Bhatt blatancies include Paap (Witness). Aetbaar (Fear) and Tumsa Nahin Dekha (Arthur).

Selective Inspiration:

The Anil Kapoor – Mahesh Manjrekar and Sameera Reddy story angle of Musafir was evidently inspired from U-Turn. Akshay Kumar used Anger Management techniques to alleviate Salman Khan in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Vatsal Sheth's car connection in Taarzan – The Wonder Car had flashes of Christine.

Faintly reminiscent:

The Deewaar POW runaway reminded of The Great ESCAPE. While Yuva was structurally similar to Amores Perros, Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat thematically reminded of Gulzar's Ijaazat with a very similar setup – an estranged couple meeting once again in an isolated setting. Aitraaz had the sexual harassment theme with a male being the victim, derived from Disclosure.

Source: Diva

www.rewaj.com

Very interesting. There's a few other movies that weren't on the list that have been copied by bollywood from hollywood. For one, there was the movie "Darar" with Juhi Chawla and Arbaz Khan, well that was copied from the hollywood movie "Sleeping with the Enemy".The movie "Forest Gump" was also copied but I forget the hindi movie name for that. There were others that I can't think of at the top of my head cause they are old movies from the 90's. But it just goes to show who's got the creativity and brains. 😕

its funny n interesting that how many films they copied

Every 3th movie has been copied! GOD.... 😆

thanks for sharing though 😛

thanks, oh and kio mil gaya is like forest gump and ET put together