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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Remake thoughts


Since I've been ranting on Twitter about remakes, I thought I would give my remake thoughts again.

For those who are confuse, lemme explain.

I don't mind remakes. Just as long as credit is given, I'm cool with it. But I'm not going to cry when there is a "remake" involve. I've seen this way to much from South Indian fans who cry that Bollywood is remaking a movie. So what.


Actually, now I think more about it. Do people complain when an oldie or another Indian language is being remade more? Nah.I read just the same amount of complaints about when a Bollywood movie is copying a Hollywood movie.
To me, a film is remade and changed a bit for their intended audience. I love the Bollywood remakes of Korean and Hollywood movies. For example, I looooove Awarapan way more than the Korean original, A Bittersweet Life. Just like I prefer Aamir over the Filipino original, Cavite. Or even Murder over the Hollywood original, Unfaithful.

Now I don't like every remake. For example, Partner comes no where close to the original Hollywood version, Hitch. Or I See You and the Hollywood original, Just Like Heaven.

I love Wanted just as much as I love Pokiri. Same for Ghajini (Hindi) and Ghajini (Tamil)

I've often come to to this confusion when it comes to Hmong food.

As you may or may not know, Hmong culture is close to non existence, only because there was never anything written about my culture.

We have adapted a lot of food from other Asian cuisines. Although I may be cooking papaya salad and sticky rice. I made the Hmong style version of it.

Maybe I shouldn't compare food and movies? Or with music? For some reason, when it comes to the entertainment world, it has more value, or territorial? Who is creative and such? I don't know.

Don't tell me you never thought about seeing a Telugu or Hindi version of a Hollywood movie before. You even thought about your dream cast to go along with it.

Wow, I've been ranting on and on again. Sorry for this post. I haven't done much "reviewing" lately. I was hoping to have a remake wish post again but instead did this rant :D

14 comments:

Dolce and Namak said...

I think that's exactly the thing, Nicki, "as long as the source is credited" no one has a problem with a movie being remade (of course whether you like the remake or not is a completely different discussion). That's why Ghajini getting remade in Hindi did't cause any public outcries. But for example my problem with Murugadoss is that he NEVER credits his sources (Memento for Ghajini and Pay It Forward for Stalin) when it's such a blatant lie to say that he just read the synopsis and liked the idea. Same with Aamir the film - no credit to Cavite, moreover they insist they did not copy it. That's where people get grumpy. Remakes are ok for most people, I think, as long as credit goes where it's due. Unfortunately that doesn't always happen.

Nicki said...

Actually, I disagree with you.

That's what started me to write this post. It's about Salman remaking another Telugu hit, such as Ready and maybe Kick next.

The credit is there but people are still griping about it.

I hear people complaining about it already saying that Hindi movies won't be as good, blah, blah, blah.

Dolce and Namak said...

LOL Funny you should say that because when I said it depends if you end up liking the remake or not, I censored myself and didn't end up finishing the sentence with "unless it's Salman remaking it". But that's just me, I happen to not like Salman at all, so whether he's remaking a Telugu movie or an Italian movie I won't watch it anyway. Not because it's a remake but because it's Salman.

That said, and back to your point, if credit is given, I have nothing against remakes either. Doesn't matter if it's an oldie, a Southie or a Hollywood. If it sucks however, I do reserve the right to bitch about it :P Like I just did with Nine which is a pathetic excuse for a remake. :)

Nicki said...

Fair enough.

Oh well. There's no one that would actually make me NOT want to watch any movie so I cannot comment on that.

That's the reason for my curiousity in other cinemas.

It's okay to bitch about remakes being pathetic because you actually saw the movie and formed your own opinion about it is okay.

But just bitching about a remake, just because it's going to be a remake and you haven't even watched it and because it hasn't even been release is plain stupid.

It's like all the remakes of cartoons in Hollywood. I love them. I love Transformers, GI Joe, Airbender, whatever, lol.

My heart is too kind, haha (sarcastic)

PS - I have no problems with people not liking Salman or his movies. Just don't bitch about him remaking any movies if the credit is due. Fair? :D

Dolce and Namak said...

Bilkul fair :D

I can sort of see the point of not wanting to watch a remake when you really loved the original. Like I will never watch a JWM remake, don't care who's in it. But at the same time I agree that I'd have no right to complain that it's getting remade. It's my choice to watch it or not and I probably will never, in fact, watch the existing remake in Telugu or Tamil. To each their own.

Nicki said...

Hahaha!

I'm the opposite. I want to watch all the remake to form my own opinion because I feel the reason why it's a remake because it is intended for different audiences, I want to see what is changed.

But that's just me :D

Nicki said...

And adding to the comment, when I first watched Magadheera and loved it, I bitch about a possible Hindi remake.

Now, I don't mind. I would love to see how Bollywood does it! Bring it on :D

dunkdaft said...

Oooh! Quite a discussion here. All i want to say is, go on, make remakes but Credit it.
Oh, and I still am against the remake of Magadheera. I mean come on, take a nice actor who can carry it off. (ref: possible casting Ranbir Kapoor!!) i was so excited for VTV remake with Trisha and Pratiek. But sadly, its shelved. :-(

Mette said...

Hello, may I also interrupt this little discussion with my point of view? :P
I'm always very curious for remakes, and if I they sound interesting, I'll watch them, even if I haven't seen the original. For example, I just watched Don: The Chase Begins because of SRK (that was at the very start of my bollymania), and I really liked it. I also liked Don '76, when I finally watched it last year. They're two very different films, and I also like that the new one is kind of a homage to the old one.
However, did the new one mention the old one in the credits, or anywhere? I don't quite recall, but I think not. And that's what I don't like.
If you can be inspired by a film, and make a total new film out of it, why not spend at least 2 seconds of your film time on projecting a couple of letters more onto the silver screen.
If films are based on literature, they always mention the source, so why shouldn't remakes do so?
But also, I think that (good) remakes should be more appreciated, just like (good) films based on literature are.

... Wow, that was a long comment!

Nicki said...

@DARSHIT - Did you see the comments on my Magadheera post about my choice of Ranbir for the role?? Hahaha. I know I absolutely love it too much.

Honestly, we never know how the film is going to be.

When the Hollywood movie, Prince of Persia, was being adapted to a movie from a video game. There were so many angry viewers saying that Jake Gyllenhal wasn't Persian!

But heck, I freaking love that movie to pieces! Jake did such a wonderful job. So sometimes, it doesn't matter. We could be plesantly surprise with the outcome :D

@LIME - Good point! I never thought of it like that!

How would we know if a new, modern movie did actually remake an older movie?

That is so true. We would never know if you didn't do any research.

There are credits when it's adapted/inspired by a book, why not movie? Very good point.

I would like to see those credits in the movie too.

One of my fave Hollywood movies is The Italian Job. I never knew there was a 1969 version until I started reading more.

Just like Charlie's Angels. I knew it was a tv show because I saw them when I was younger but my kids and a lot of my friends didn't know.

Thanks for your input :D

dunkdaft said...

Yeah. But Ranbir is too 'chocolaty' that he might not look good in such macho kind of role, lets see. Oh yes, jack was fab in Prince of persia.

Nicki said...

That's it. Sometimes we cannot "imagine" that person in a particular role but we'll be pleasantly surprised.

Didn't a lot of the Salman haters (okay, not haters but non fans) say that too about him in Wanted or Dabangg? But they ended up watching because they heard great things about the movie.

So....even if Ranbir doesn't "look" like the type who would fit, who would ever know? I think he would do a good job. He's the few actors in Bollywood now who could actually pull it off bringing in the audience (who is in the same age range, that is)

Psychotherapy said...

I am delighted to see that people are in fact writing about this subject in such an elegant way, presenting us all diverse parts to it.

The Bolly Hood said...

Bollywood would rather take the easy way by greenlighting remakes than original screenplays. Even if these remakes are poor scripts. The formula definetly needs to change. It's a shame there are no agents for screenwriters in Bollywood.