Is Bollywood running out of new ideas?

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee
Friday, October 12, 2007

Is Bollywood out of new ideas or its just easy to copy form a successful movie. If recent trends are anything to go by than it seems Bollywood has stopped making movies on new ideas. Let us look at some of the recent movies where the directors have borrowed (read copied!) the treatment from other movies.

Saawariya

This incidentally comes from one of the most respected directors in the industry. It draws inspiration from a short story Le notti bianche (White Nights) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Italian director Luchino Visconti creatively treated it and made a movie in 1957. French director Robert Bresson in the year 1971 transformed the movie into a block buster Quatre nuits d'un reveur (Four Nights of a Dreamer)

The story revolves around a girl who falls in love with a stranger and wants to get married to him and proposes marriage. The boy refuses due to lack of funds but promises to be back after a year. Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor play the lead in this Bhansali movie.

Lagaa Chunari Mein Daag

Director Pradeep Sarkar whose movie Parineeta was also a remake does it again with Laaga Chunari Mein Daag. His inspiration Aaina starring Mumtaz, Rajesh Khanna, A K Hangal and Nirupa Roy.

In the original a girl's (Mumtaz) father prevents her from marrying a lower class boy (Rajesh Khanna) who later gets killed while in the army. The girl goes to the city in search of work and gets into prostitution.

In the remake Rani Mukherjee and her sister (Konkana) are shown struggling in Benaras. Rani then undertakes the journey to the city and gets into prostitution to support her sisters education. The only difference is that Rani meets the lover in the city.

Om Shanti Om

Farah Khan looked for her inspiration towards Hollywood and got it from Chances Are directed by Emile. In the original the Christopher McDonald and the Cybill Shepherd are happily married when tragedy strikes and Christopher gets killed in a road accident. He is reborn and falls in love with his own daughter Mary Stuart Masterson. He remembers his past life when he comes to Mary's house but her mother has grown old and cannot recognize him.

In Om Shanti Om Deepika is a huge star of the 1970s and Shahrukh plays a junior artist and they fall in love. Shahrukh gets murdered and is reborn and than goes in search of his lost love

Jab We Met

Jab We Met draws its inspiration from multiple sources. The idea has been extensively tried both in Hollywood and Bollywood. It can be compared to It Happened One Night by Frank Capra, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahi by Mahesh Bhatt, Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha, A Walk In The Clouds, French Kiss

Jab We Met is directed by Imtiaz Ali and stars ex love birds Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor. The story is of a girl who runs away from home to marry her love. On the way she meets another man who is willing to help her reunite with her boyfriend. The hate each other in the beginning and in the end well any guess?

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Wanted Dead or Alive is a movie inspired by the 2006 Telugu blockbuster Pokiri staring Mahesh Babu, Ileana D'Cruz, Prakash Raj. The hindi remnake will be done by the dancing sensation Prabhu Deva and produced by Boney Kapoor. The movie will star Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia, Om Puri, Mahesh Manjrekar and Sayaji Shinde.

The story is about an undercover cop who works as a henchman and soon meets the heroine and falls in love with her. But when she wants to declare her love he is is attacked by a gang whom he kills and terrifies his lady love.

One thing which is evident is that a story never dies it is reincarnated time and again in Bollywood.