Bollywood has been inspired by Hollywood in their own cinema making and storytelling in a big way, so much so that the famed actors and directors have been remaking tons of Hollywood movies for Indian audiences. Only recently have Bollywood filmmakers, after partnering with international studios, started the practice of officially remaking Hollywood films.
We saw Mr. Perfectionist Aamir Khan in the movie Laal Singh Chaddha which is an authorized remake of Forrest Gump, the 1994 Hollywood movie that was not only a big hit but also earned Tom Hanks a Best Actor Oscar. Apart from Laal Singh Chaddha, there are a lot of movies that were official remakes of Hollywood films. Take a look at the list.
We Are Family: Dharma Productions was the first to start the trend of ‘official’ remakes in India. Before We Are Family, Bollywood was known for making films similar to its Hollywood counterparts, but with this one came the trend of buying rights and officially remaking films. Kajol, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Arjun Rampal-starrer We Are Family is a remake of Julia Robert’s 90s classic Stepmom. The film, however, didn’t do great business.
Players: The movie starring Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bobby Deol, Sikander Kher, and Omi Vaidya, released in 2011. It was a remake of The Italian Job. Reportedly, the makers paid a huge amount of money to get the international cast of the film to promote Players. As per reports in Quint, the Italian Job was a hit when it was released and did a business of about $176 million, and was the highest-grossing film produced by Paramount in 2003. Players, however, did not open to an overwhelming response and did a business of approximately Rs 75 crores.
Dil Bechara: Fox Studios recently produced the Hindi remake of the very popular book and movie The Fault in our Stars. In 2014, when the movie collected some $307 million worldwide, India’s Fox Studios announced that a remake was in the offing. In 2018, Sushant Singh Rajput was signed for the film Dil Bechara, which also marked the directorial debut of casting director Mukesh Chhabra. Due to the pandemic, the film premiered on Disney+ Hotstar.
The Girl on the Train: Parineeti Chopra-starrer The Girl on the Train was released on 26 February. The film was an official remake of the American film by the same name, based on the novel by Paula Hawkins. The English version starred Emily Blunt. Parineeti’s film was released on Netflix due to the pandemic.
The Intern: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway’s The Intern was released in 2015. The Hindi remake was announced with Deepika Padukone and late Rishi Kapoor, with Padukone’s production house backing it. However, Amitabh Bachchan has now been cast in the role which was supposed to be played by Rishi Kapoor. Amitabh and Deepika Padukone, who co-starred in ‘Piku’, will reunite for ‘The Intern’ now.
Stay hooked to IWMBuzz.com for more updates.