The Bollywood industry has been following the work pattern of the South industry with close detail. Recent years have seen the emergence of the South industry beyond proportions. Their content, storytelling and their production values have all been talked about. There have been many huge hits in the South industry, in languages like Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil. And the trend of Bollywood remaking many big hits from the South has in fact got us engaged as well as surprised. The remakes are being done so much that the original content on Bollywood has become a rarity these days. Every new release to come is a remake from the South.
Now Bollywood viewers have gotten smarter. None of the remakes in Hindi is being accepted, even when it has big stars and an appealing storyline. Yes, the recent release of Vikram Vedha, starring Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan which is the remake of the Tamil film going by the same name, did not work. This has shaken the business in Bollywood totally. Now the Drishyam 2 trailer has surfaced and there are already signs being thrown about this remake too not doing well.
A report on bbc.com talked about whether this is the end to such remakes in the Hindi film industry. We take reference from that story for our write up here.
“South Indian films are available on so many platforms that Bollywood remakes are no longer relevant,” says Komal Nahta, a trade analyst.
Many southern filmmakers are also widening their ambitions and targeting a larger audience with nationwide promotions and the simultaneous release of Hindi-dubbed versions in theatres (Hindi is by far the most widely spoken language in India).
“So in the age of films where all dubbed versions are released simultaneously with the original, there’s no question of remakes because everything is original,” Mr Nahta says.
Experts also say that while Bollywood seems to be struggling to find what works now, southern industries are bursting with fresh ideas and young talent.
The big hits are usually exhilarating tales of swaggering heroes who take on larger-than-life missions. The stories also have an overt element of exaggeration – blending myth with comedy, romantic interludes and lots of action – that can be replicated in other settings, especially Bollywood.
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