With Aamir Khan filming for Lal Singh Chaddha, a remake of Hollywood hit, Forrest Gump, Farah Khan and Rohit Shetty collaborating to remake Raj N. Sippy’s cult dramedy of 1982, Satte Pe Satta, Sequel of Bhool Bhulaiyaa being filmed and more is what Bollywood is up to lately: remakes, rehashes, sequels and remixes! These are the most widely-discussed films in Bollywood right now, but they totally lack originality and fans are not heartened by this, isn’t it such a sad fate of cinema?
Remakes, rehashes, sequels, and remixes- these terms are more popular than nepotism in Bollywood. Some filmmakers aren’t even ashamed of continuously making grand announcements about their big “remake” projects, where most of them include scene-to-scene copies of the original. Some are justifying remakes, rehashes, sequels, and remixes in the name of reach. But in the era of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar and more, where content is just a voice command away, it does seem like a lousy excuse as almost every film is now available within months of release, and that too with subtitles. So the idea of spending crores of rupees on remakes is nothing but a lackadaisical idea!
Bollywood industry doesn’t lack in any way, so rather than just taking the backseat, it should provide cinephiles with interesting content and not mere rehashes. Filmmakers should take a look at the National Awards’ winners list, which includes films such as Badhaai Ho, Andhadhun and Pad Man, with original scripts. Cinema that is considered an expression of creativity, can nowadays witness filmmakers walking away from original content, and take the easy route of either shamelessly using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, or giving a glossy twist to regional cinema. Eg: Sairat, Kabir Singh, etc. So we as the audience cannot help but question if directors nowadays have nothing new to say? Or are there just no new stories? If so, why is other content apart from Bollywood more interesting?
With the remake rage, comes the sequel mania. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Student Of The Year 2, Dabangg 3, Hera Pheri 3, Housefull 4, ABCD 3, Sadak 2 and more are either released this year or are in the making. But do these films even deserve a sequel? There are a few that are claimed to be driven by reasons other than money. For example, the Tanu Weds Manu franchise, where writer-director Aanand L. Rai stated, “We made the Tanu Weds Manu sequel because the characters demanded that the story be taken forward. The decision for a sequel must rest on the story.”
But this is not something that Bollywood often takes prudently. They seem to follow a mantra, ‘Once is nice, twice or more is nicer.’ Sorry but not sorry, Bollywood, we do not agree with you!