I have earlier written about songs copied from one language to another. Then I started looking at movies which, ahem, adapt liberally from other movies. This is a post based on movies I have seen and realized some undeclared fatherhood.
I watched a song (on 24th Apr 2015) from the 1974 Tamil movie Sivagamiyin Selvan which is a remake of the Hindi movie Aradhana. The songs from the Hindi version are terrific as is Rajesh Khanna (and Sharmila). To hear the Tamil song sung by Sivaji Ganesan (who should have played a father role) is ... Words can't express my distaste.
I watched a song (on 24th Apr 2015) from the 1974 Tamil movie Sivagamiyin Selvan which is a remake of the Hindi movie Aradhana. The songs from the Hindi version are terrific as is Rajesh Khanna (and Sharmila). To hear the Tamil song sung by Sivaji Ganesan (who should have played a father role) is ... Words can't express my distaste.
I was watching the Tamil movie Pattikkada Pattanama (1972, MD: MS Viswanathan). Though it's a little like The Taming Of The Shrew, I am nevertheless reminded of the Hindi movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma. The heroine Jayalalitha in the Tamil movie dislikes the hero who is very simple just as SRK was in the Hindi movie was or Vikram (as Ambi) was in the Tamil movie Anniyan. Incidentally Anniyan seems to have taken quite a bit from Sydney Sheldon's novel Tell Me Your Dreams.
The Tamil movie London is copied from an English movie, A Fish Called Wanda. The Tamil movie Jay Jay was copied from the English movie Serendipity.
Yesterday (22nd Jul 2016) I was watching the last half hour of a 1971 Hindi movie Khoj (Rishi Kapoor). I realized it was adapted from the 1964 Tamil movie Pudhiya Paravai (Sivaji Ganesan and Saroja Devi). Though the Tamil movie had a romantic love interest between the leads in Tamil I couldn't see it in the half hour that I watched the Hindi movie. Of course the songs in the Tamil movie were wowow.
I was watching the Tamil movie Poonthalir made in 1979 with Sivakumar and Sujatha and realized that the 1994 movie Baby's Day Out has a story line very similar to that of the Tamil movie.
Yesterday I watched an old Tamil movie Andha Naal. I realized that the English movie (and novel) Eye of the Needle's spy thriller theme was perhaps copied from the Tamil movie. The Tamil movie is a spy "thriller" and about a death as seem from multiple perspectives. While I was reading the wiki for Andha Naal I realized that the Tamil movie's death theme was adapted from a Japanese movie Roshomon. Guruji told me that the Yash Chopra movie Fanaa was copied from "The eye of the needle". As per this article, the Tamil movie was adapted from a British movie The Woman In question. And I read "N or M?" an Agatha Christie novel written in 1941, which seems to have a story line similar to that of Eye of the Needle. The former was written much earlier. Hmmm, A potpourri.
Yesterday (22nd Jul 2016) I was watching the last half hour of a 1971 Hindi movie Khoj (Rishi Kapoor). I realized it was adapted from the 1964 Tamil movie Pudhiya Paravai (Sivaji Ganesan and Saroja Devi). Though the Tamil movie had a romantic love interest between the leads in Tamil I couldn't see it in the half hour that I watched the Hindi movie. Of course the songs in the Tamil movie were wowow.
I was watching the Tamil movie Poonthalir made in 1979 with Sivakumar and Sujatha and realized that the 1994 movie Baby's Day Out has a story line very similar to that of the Tamil movie.
Yesterday I watched an old Tamil movie Andha Naal. I realized that the English movie (and novel) Eye of the Needle's spy thriller theme was perhaps copied from the Tamil movie. The Tamil movie is a spy "thriller" and about a death as seem from multiple perspectives. While I was reading the wiki for Andha Naal I realized that the Tamil movie's death theme was adapted from a Japanese movie Roshomon. Guruji told me that the Yash Chopra movie Fanaa was copied from "The eye of the needle". As per this article, the Tamil movie was adapted from a British movie The Woman In question. And I read "N or M?" an Agatha Christie novel written in 1941, which seems to have a story line similar to that of Eye of the Needle. The former was written much earlier. Hmmm, A potpourri.
There is a scene in the Tamil movie Vasantha Maaligai (1972, MD:KV Mahadevan, Director: KS Prakash Rao) where the hero Sivaji Ganesan tells the heroine that he loves a woman and that her pictures are everywhere in a room in his house. He asks her to enter that "temple" and see for herself who he is in love with. She enters the room and sees her own reflection in mirrors all over the room. Today I saw the Hindi movie Chhalia (1960, MD: Kalyanji Anandji, Director: Manmohan Desai) where the hero Raj Kapoor takes the heroine Nutan to a pond and tells her to open her eyes and look down, that she will see the woman whom he loves. She looks down and sees her own reflection in the pond. The whole movie wasn't copied but a significant scene was.
The rich son/daughter of the family and a poor friend exchange identities and how they fool the uncle is a common theme in both Anaari and Ullaththai Alli Tha.
In the movie Kandukonden Kandukonden (2000), Manivannan rips the classic inverted Y symbol from the front of a Mercedes. The same scene is in Mrs Doubtfire - Robin Williams rips it off from James Bond's car.
The male sidekick (Koundamani) wearing an abaya in order to rent a house in the Tamil movie Rikshamama is copied from the Hindi movie Arzoo, where Mehmood plays the same trick.
Now yesterday I was watching an old Tamil movie (1966) called Ramu. KR Vijaya says to Gemini Ganesan (when he tells her that the doctor has said something terrible about his son Ramu): 'avar doctor thaane, kadavul illaye? doctor chonna appeal e kadayadha?' ("he is only a doctor, he is not god. Right? Isn't there anything to be done once a doctor gives up?").
The rich son/daughter of the family and a poor friend exchange identities and how they fool the uncle is a common theme in both Anaari and Ullaththai Alli Tha.
In the movie Kandukonden Kandukonden (2000), Manivannan rips the classic inverted Y symbol from the front of a Mercedes. The same scene is in Mrs Doubtfire - Robin Williams rips it off from James Bond's car.
The male sidekick (Koundamani) wearing an abaya in order to rent a house in the Tamil movie Rikshamama is copied from the Hindi movie Arzoo, where Mehmood plays the same trick.
Now yesterday I was watching an old Tamil movie (1966) called Ramu. KR Vijaya says to Gemini Ganesan (when he tells her that the doctor has said something terrible about his son Ramu): 'avar doctor thaane, kadavul illaye? doctor chonna appeal e kadayadha?' ("he is only a doctor, he is not god. Right? Isn't there anything to be done once a doctor gives up?").
I was reminded of a scene from Munna Bhai MBBS where Munna tells his doctor professor: 'doctor hi tho ho. koi bhagwan tho nahi' ("you are only a doctor, not God") and that he (Munna) will make the Anand (a Bengali who is in coma) better / talk.
And of course an Indiana Jones movie seems to have inspired National Treasure. While couple of girls who inspired me to watch the latter movie were rather stung by my belief that National Treasure had a lot of genes inherited from the Indiana Jones movie. They accused me of being too cynical.
(Here are couple of other links which I read today
(Here are couple of other links which I read today
One of the episodes on Adalat serial was copied from the movie Exorcism of Emily Rose. While the English movie was terrific, the Hindi episode was uhh uhh.
Jab We Met was copied from the 1995 movie Walk in the clouds (I have mentioned this in an earlier post). But then today (Pongal day, 2016) I was reading about the 1988 Malayalam movie Chithram starring Mohanlal, Poornam Viswanathan whose story (by Priyadarshan) seems quite similar to and older than Walk In The Clouds. THAT is interesting. Chithram's ending is poignant.
The Malayalam movie Nirnayam (which I saw in Coimbatore with a Muslim colleague from Tellicherry. I wonder where he is now) is copied from the Harrison Ford movie The Fugitive. The Tamil movie Dosth with Sharath Kumar and Prakash Raj is a straight adaptation from The Fugitive. Incidentally, this movie seems to have a parent in the Yash Chopra movie Ittefaq which itself was apparently adapted from the British film "Signpost to murder".
The slippery grease scene and the hero wearing the cycle pedal on his feet in the beginning of the Tamil movie Ghilli is taken straight from the English movie Transporter. If I am not mistaken, this scene is one of the first instance in an Indian movie of photoshopping the original scene and replacing the faces with local ones.
The Malayalam movie Nirnayam (which I saw in Coimbatore with a Muslim colleague from Tellicherry. I wonder where he is now) is copied from the Harrison Ford movie The Fugitive. The Tamil movie Dosth with Sharath Kumar and Prakash Raj is a straight adaptation from The Fugitive. Incidentally, this movie seems to have a parent in the Yash Chopra movie Ittefaq which itself was apparently adapted from the British film "Signpost to murder".
The slippery grease scene and the hero wearing the cycle pedal on his feet in the beginning of the Tamil movie Ghilli is taken straight from the English movie Transporter. If I am not mistaken, this scene is one of the first instance in an Indian movie of photoshopping the original scene and replacing the faces with local ones.
And then of course was the Akshay Kumar movie Action Replayy which was copied from Back to the future.
The Tamil movie Santosh Subramanian seemed a lot like the Hindu movie Khubsoorat.
The Tamil movie Santosh Subramanian seemed a lot like the Hindu movie Khubsoorat.
Now let's come to the block buster Sholay. This was copied from Magnificent Seven. The Tamil movie Nayakan was copied from Godfather.
Ek Ruka Hua Faisla was copied from 12 Angry Men. The Hindi movie Dhamaal was copied from It's Mad Mad Mad World. Vijay, Simran movie Thulladha Manamum Thullum was copied from Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.
Ek Ruka Hua Faisla was copied from 12 Angry Men. The Hindi movie Dhamaal was copied from It's Mad Mad Mad World. Vijay, Simran movie Thulladha Manamum Thullum was copied from Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.
The last scene in Aamir Khan's Talaash is a straight copy of a scene from the English movie Dragonfly.
The scene in the song Sachhi Yeh Kahani Sun Lo Meri Jaan in the Hindi movie Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994) and the scene when Genevieve comes to the stage in Rush Hour 3 (2007) are very similar. Both scenes must have been copied from another western movie. I wonder which.
The following Tamil movies were remade in Hindi with largely the same theme. I have only considered movies that I have seen and those from the 1960's.
- Aalaiyamani as Aadmi
- Naanum Oru Penn as Mein Bhi Ladki Hoon (produced AC Trilokchander)
- Nenjil Or Aalayam as Dil Ek Mandir
- Kaadhalikka Neramillai was remade in Hindi as Pyaar Kiye Jaa.
There are plenty. The list goes on. I will probably update this post or create a new one when I have another set of movies.
Recently I was reading Atlas Shrugged again. When Richard Halley, the great musician explains to Dagny that he couldn't stand the public praising him (that their praise really meant that he, Halley, should hold them in high esteem because they praised) and hence he left the world....I thought of Guru Dutt in Pyaasa.
I was watching Untouchables after many years. The younger rule bound Kevin Costner and the older wiser Sean Connery seemed to uncannily resemble Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman. I was startled by the lines "[Connery] What are you prepared to do" "[Costner] Everything within the law." "[Connery] And then what?" Untouchables was released about a year and half before the other movie.
I read the novel "A Matter Of Honor" written in 1986 by Jeffrey Archer. There is a scene towards the end of the novel where the villain is killed in a plane and the killer gets off the plane before it takes off. I was reminded of a similar scene in the 1985 Arnold Scharzenegger movie Commando. Interesting... Wonder whether the resemblance is accidental.
Kulbushan Kharbanda played a suave villain who would make feed his own men to sharks in the movie Shaan(1980). This theme was copied from the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice.
Yesterday (17h Feb 2017), I was discussing Bridges of Madison County with a friend from Bombay. He immediately mentioned a Bengali movie - Paroma - which had a similar but not same theme.
In the Hindi movie KANK Abhishek tells Rani Mukherji about her infertility "is ka ehsaas kabhi hone nahi diya" to which Rani replies.. "now you did". Straight copy from Pretty Woman where Richard Gere tells the big mouth that he never treated her like a prostitute to which she replies softly "Now you did".
The story of the 1984 novel The Second Lady seems quite similar to the 1968 movie Humsaya.
Additional reading:
Recently I was reading Atlas Shrugged again. When Richard Halley, the great musician explains to Dagny that he couldn't stand the public praising him (that their praise really meant that he, Halley, should hold them in high esteem because they praised) and hence he left the world....I thought of Guru Dutt in Pyaasa.
I was watching Untouchables after many years. The younger rule bound Kevin Costner and the older wiser Sean Connery seemed to uncannily resemble Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman. I was startled by the lines "[Connery] What are you prepared to do" "[Costner] Everything within the law." "[Connery] And then what?" Untouchables was released about a year and half before the other movie.
I read the novel "A Matter Of Honor" written in 1986 by Jeffrey Archer. There is a scene towards the end of the novel where the villain is killed in a plane and the killer gets off the plane before it takes off. I was reminded of a similar scene in the 1985 Arnold Scharzenegger movie Commando. Interesting... Wonder whether the resemblance is accidental.
Kulbushan Kharbanda played a suave villain who would make feed his own men to sharks in the movie Shaan(1980). This theme was copied from the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice.
Yesterday (17h Feb 2017), I was discussing Bridges of Madison County with a friend from Bombay. He immediately mentioned a Bengali movie - Paroma - which had a similar but not same theme.
In the Hindi movie KANK Abhishek tells Rani Mukherji about her infertility "is ka ehsaas kabhi hone nahi diya" to which Rani replies.. "now you did". Straight copy from Pretty Woman where Richard Gere tells the big mouth that he never treated her like a prostitute to which she replies softly "Now you did".
The story of the 1984 novel The Second Lady seems quite similar to the 1968 movie Humsaya.
Additional reading:
- https://www.filmykeeday.com/huge-list-of-hollywood-remakes-in-bollywood-121-movies/: List of Bollywood movies copied from Hollywood
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