Remakes Rule..
Remakes are all set to rule the movie industry.. Interestingly two of the biggest hits of Mohanlal in Malayalam are all set to release in Tamil. I watched the trailers of both films. That was what made me write this post.
Remakes are not something new in film industry. Particularly Tamil film industry have always been influenced by other language films. So often they remade hit film from Hindi and other southern languages..
All together there are about 6 films of mohanlal whose remakes in tamil are in pipeline..
They are
1. Kireedom remade into Kireedam, starring Ajith
2. Spadikam remade into Veerappu, starring Sunder C
3. Udayananu Tharam remade into Vellai Thirai, starring Prithivraj
4. Chotta Mumbai remake, starring Vijay
5. Vadakkum Nathan remake, starring Vikram
6. Hallo
The biggest star of Tollywood Rajnikanth himself saved his career with the remake of Amitabh's Don , 'Billa'.. He went on to remake Amitabh hits such as Khud-Daar, Namak Halaal, Lawaaris, Trishul, and Kasme Vaade, were remade into hit Rajinikanth starrers Padikkadavan, Velaikaran, Panakkaran, Mr. Bharath, and Dharmathin Thalaivan, respectively. He also remade Mohanlal's Thenmavin Kombathu and Manichitrathazhu( from Kannada version), to 'Muthu' and 'Chandramukhi'.. The number two in Kollywood, Vijay has an uncanny knack for spotting a winner in remakes. The 'Ilaya Dalapathi' saw tremendous potential in a Telugu film titled Pokkiri , directed by Prabhudeva... Promptly, he remade it in Tamil, with spectacular results. Buoyed by the success of the remake recipe, Vijay has set his sights on another hit film, the Mohanlal starrer, ‘Chota Mumbai’, a big hit in Mollywood. The grapevine is abuzz that Vijay is planning to remake it in Tamil with himself in the male lead. His Thullatha manavum thullum, Kadhalukku Mariyadhai, friends etc were remakes only..Vikram's kashi, majja etc were also remakes of malayalam films.. When Kamal Hasan remade 'Munnabhai MBBS', the innocent charm associated with the original was never there. It was a total disaster to me.
I have often noticed that the tamil remakes tend to fail the originals in more than one way.. The remakes of Bharatham and Nadodikattu etc were really an insult to the original.
Its really funny that even though Mohanlal confines himself mostly to malayalam industry, most of his hit films are reamde into many other languages, thanks to his close friend Priyadarshan who is making Bhool Bhulaiya with Akshay Kumar which is a remake of Mohanlal's 'Manichitrathazhu'. Priyadarshan in the past have remade many of the malayalam and tamil hits into hindi. Virasaat and Hera Pheri are some of his best remakes.. I dont think he have done anything other than remake films in hindi. Maalamal weekly may be an exception. Earlier he used to remake Hollywood movies to malayalam. Anyway its heartwarming to see he havent forgotten his oldways.
Mohanlal mayn't be complaining, he himself is acting on another great remake. The potboiler of the season is RGV's Sholay aka Aaag. In this remake of Ramesh Sippy's timeless classic 'Sholay' he portrays the role of Thakur, enacted in the original by legendary Sanjeev kumar. RGV is not someone who is stranger to remakes. He himself remade his debut film shiva in hindi. Also he went on to remake Godfather into hindi as Sarkar. Now he is planning a sequel, which is named Sarkar Raj.
Interview: Mohanlal On His Role In RGV's Aag
The trend seems to be never ending.. Why filmmakers go for a remake?.. When directors aren't confident of doing something different?.. or when the producer dont like to take a risk?.. sometimes leading actors are the ones who want the remakes. Remakes are noway a crime.. But one feel they should do justice to the original story. The writers rights should also be protected. I always felt bad for someone like Madhu Muttom for the treatment he got. Even when he is the original author of 'Chandramukhi' which collected crores, he is still a struggling writer.
Only one thing is still baffling to me, why there is no remakes in malayalam.. Last time i saw a remake in malayalam was Priyadarshan's Vettom.. and also When Kamal remade Tom cruise's Rainman into Pacha kuthira.. Ohh.. i forgot one more name.. Amal Neerad's Mammootty starrer Big B( 'Yogi' is the name of the film's Tamil remake) was the remake of Four Brothers, which itself was an adaptation of the film The Sons of Katie Elder... Priyadarshan , you got competition..
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