The remake of the 90′s cult movie – Agneepath might have sounded like a bad idea on paper. After all, it is so deeply embedded with the strong presence of a performance which defined the star, and the star which defined the movie. Amitabh Bachchan’s white suited, guy-liner endorsing gangster, might have been a 90′s take on the many smuggling movies of the 70′s – viz. Don and Deewar. But what made Agneepath different then, was its no holds barred, self destructive protagonist, who is solely driven by revenge. How could one recreate that? Debutante director Karan Malhotra has the answer for that. And the answer is .. not to recreate *that*. 2012′s Agneepath is a remake of the 90′s original in as much way as Ram Gopal Varma remade the Godfather into Sarkar (and Sarkar Raaj). It does not attempt to shift the time scale and create similar scenes/situations existing in a parallel universe, re-enacted by a different group of actors. Instead, it redefines the dynamics, the relationships and the narrative to a certain extent, and yet, pays tribute to the presence of the original. And THAT is how you remake movies – not by driving your script to make more cash, but by making your characters come back to life..or rather offer a new life to your characters.
By now you must have got it that I loved this movie, despite a few silly unwanted additives. But when the end product is so damn good, who am I to complain. Hit the jump, as I discuss a bit more in details, and of course will be making some comparisons with the original [inevitably]. SPOILER ALERT
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So apparently Total Film, one of the biggest movie mags of the UK (second only to Empire), did a top 50 list of Bollywood movies. And to my utter surprise, the list seems to be compiled by someone who watched exactly 50 Bollywood movies, which might have appeared on his/her Lovefilm queue. Otherwise, there is no other reason for something like THIS to have ended up in a Best of list. The dilemma for me is, whether I should be angry at the inclusion of some of the movies which would NEVER appear on any Best of list, or at the exclusion of some of the obvious Bollywood classic, which even Lovefilm would recommend. The dissection continues after the jump, and if you’re wondering why I have included the GIF above, hover your mouse over it to know exactly how I feel about this list. Feel free to join the discussion in the comments.
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Is there a good reason to make a remake, other than making a quick buck over a pre-existing idea? I guess that debate has been all discarded, since all that we have been chewing on in Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood are remakes, inspirations and redone guano of some kind. We have had Tolly remakes of Bolly hits, and vice versa. I don’t need to cite any examples; a quick look at the Bolly releases of the year will suffice. The latest to enter this list, is the remake of the Telugu blockbuster – Magadheera. Ranveer Singh is helmed to play the lead role, and Anurag Kashyap’s production company Phantom will be producing it. Now, you all who follow this blog, know of my love and intense affection for this film. And hence, I have a big problem with it being tinkered with. Read on to find out my..
5 Reasons Why I Don’t Want a Magadheera Remake
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Time indeed flies. Where did the year go? 2011 is so history now. For me, it means that I need to submit my end-year review sheet to my manager describing all the good efforts that I have put in over the last 12 months. And that sort of gave me this idea to have an end year review of Bollywood in 2011. (Although I do work in the financial sector, please do not expect a Quarterly results post from me). And so in traditional award season fashion, we roll out the prelude to the OKS Bollywood Movie Awards. So without any further ado, let’s roll out ..
The top 7 Bollywood movies of 2011.
7. Chillar Party
Kids centric movies in Bollywood have always been produced in sparse quantities, and the ones that do see the light of the day turn out to be kids centric, with morals manipulatively woven into the script. Chillar Party checks all the boxes of the kids movie formula, and yet somehow stands out as a rebel of the genre. It was a pleasant surprise to see a movie with no known star cast, completely centred around a bunch of kids, and having a story with a golden heart. Yes, it is not bereft of the obligatory good vs evil theme, and the evil here is conveniently a local politician.
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