Bollywood is remaking a slew of classic Hindi movies, egged on by what it says is a creative challenge of packaging old blockbusters to appeal to modern-day audiences. The world's biggest film industry by volumes and ticket sales is known to be quick to remake Hollywood hits.
But now, Bollywood filmmakers say the main motive in remaking classics is driven by an artistic urge rather than a dearth of ideas. Bollywood has lined up at least five remakes of cult classics this season, with the first of them - "Don", the story of a maverick mobster and his crime syndicate - getting a big opening last Friday.
"Don" features superstar Shah Rukh Khan and pits his histrionics against the legendary Amitabh Bachchan who acted in the older version. Next month, when "Umrao Jaan" opens, it will try to relive the magic of the 1981 musical of the same name about a beautiful Mughal-era courtesan - played by Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai - who searches in vain for true love. "In remaking a film, a director takes up the creative challenge of telling an old story the way he perceives it," said critic Taran Adarsh.
"It's like having tea at your place and tea at my place. It's tea, but it tastes different." Of the other remakes, "Sholay" (Flames) - about two reformed crooks who save a village from a bloodthirsty bandit - is much awaited because it stars Bachchan as the villain. In the original version, he was one of the two loveable crooks.
"Sahib, Biwi Aur Ghulam" (Husband, Wife and Slave) and "Arth" (Meaning) are the other classical remakes slated for release next year. Filmmakers and actors say their main motivation in remaking a hit is to tell the old story in a way that will not only make it relevant to the present but also give it a distinct flavour.
"The world has become harsher and a lot grittier and thus the movie and the character are a lot more mean, cold and foxy," Shahrukh Khan, referring to the character of Don which Bachchan immortalised in the 1978 original, wrote on the new version's Web site www.donthefilm.com. The style and look of the remakes are also obviously new.