‘Inkaar’ in 1977 – ‘High and Low’ in 1963
Place: japan
Story: A police detective helps a wealthy shoe company owner search for the young son of the owner’s chauffeur who’s been kidnapped by an ex-employee and his gang for a large ransom.
About: Inkaar is a terrific thriller, one of the best Bollywood has ever churned out but it Kurosawa’s Japanese original has not just the thriller elements but a strong socio-political commentary which gives it the obvious edge.
‘Aatish’ in 1994 – ‘A Better Tomorrow’ in 1986
Place: Hong Kong
Story: A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
About: Serial remake hack, Sanjay Gupta, started off by adapting John Woo’s ultra-stylish Hong Kong action flick. The plot minus the romantic tangent is pretty much the same while many of the other scenes are picked up shot for shot. To add to the mix, Gupta also adds scenes from Scarface, Lethal Weapon 3 and much of the background score from The Terminator 2.
‘Aamir’ in 2008 – ‘Cavite’ in 2005
Place: Philippines
Story: A person arriving from abroad is handed a cell phone as soon he steps out of the airport. He’s informed that unless he participates in an act of terrorism, his entire family will be killed
About: I thought both movies were pretty evenly matched, featured great turns by the main protagonists, maintained a high level of tension throughout and were tightly paced. Though Aamir does at times pander to many clichés associated with Muslims in India.
‘Ugly aur Pagli’ in 2008 – ‘My Sassy Girl’ in 2001
Place: South Korea
Story: Desperate loner starts dating a hot girl, who is way too crazy for him to handle, turning his life upside down.
About: Never much understood the love for the South Korean original and absolutely despised the Indian remake. Other than adding the usual Indian kitsch of songs and melodrama, the movie’s plot remains quite faithful to the original.
‘Zinda’ in 2006 – ‘Oldboy’ in 2003
Place: South Korea
Story: A man is locked up in a hotel room for many years, without ever being told why or by whom and then one day suddenly released. Now in less than a week he has to find out the why and whom to reclaim his former life.
About: Sanjay Gupta ran amok yet again with a South East Asian classic, resulting in stylish yet highly watered down remake. In the original, the man is locked up for 15 years and has five days to find his captor upon release, in the Indian remake, he’s locked up for 14 years and has four days to find his captors. These are the minor changes made in the remake which otherwise borrows liberally scenes, shot-to-shot recreations of the original. Of course being India, they had to side-step the incest angle and shoe-horned in a flesh trade element.
‘Citylights’ in 2014 – ‘Metro Manila’ in 2013
Place: Philippines
Story: Seeking a brighter future, a poor villager and his family flee their impoverished life and head to the bustling lights of the metropolis. But the sweltering city’s bustling intensity quickly overwhelms them, and they fall prey to the rampant manipulations of its hardened locals. The villager catches a lucky break when he’s offered steady work for an armoured truck company. Soon, though, the reality of his new life forces him to confront the perils he has put before in his family.
About: Though both movies have almost identical plots and very strong actors in the central roles, Metro Manila is a way grittier and moving experience. City lights at times gets caught up in melodrama overkill and the background score can’t keep things subtle. Even the ending of Metro Manila has a far more poetic quality to it than the emotion heavy sledgehammer style of City lights.
‘Naina’ in 2005 ‘The Eye’ in 2002
Place: Hong Kong
Story: A girl who’s been blind since a young age receives corneal transplants and hopes to lead a normal life. However post the surgery, she starts seeing ghosts and having visions of impending tragedies.
About: The Pang brother’s original was an effective but not great horror movie and though Naina doesn’t quite measure up to the original, it’s still one of the better Indian horror films. Though they had to add a solar eclipse in the plot, didn’t they, thought it would resonate with Indian audiences.
‘Murder 2’ in 2011- ‘The Chaser’ in 2008
Place: South Korea
Story: A former cop now must track down an unnaturally shrewd and calm serial killer who’s been bumping off prostitutes.
About: The Indian remake had a terrific performance from Prashant Narayanan as the serial killer and they even made him a cross dresser which added an unneeded characteristic to the role. Since it was made by the Bhatt’s, the movie was more of an erotic thriller than a straight forward one like the original movie.
‘Koshish’ in 1972 – ‘Happiness of Us Alone’ in 1961
Place: Japan
Story: A romantic drama spanning twenty years chronicling the life of a deaf-mute couple.
About: Gulzar’s heart wrenching movie had its origins in this Japanese movie which he had watched during an international film festival. The major difference in plot being that in the Japanese movie, the female protagonist is widow of war, when the movie starts out. From then on much of the plot is the same, including an evil brother, the death of the first child and the helpful mother. Little can take away from Gulzar’s masterpiece but the Japanese one is just as good equally if not more.
‘Kaante’ in 2002 – ‘City on Fire’ in 1987
Place of Origin: Hong Kong
Story: A bunch of criminals plan to rob a bank, but one of them is an undercover cop.
About: Sanjay Gupta has been pretty candid about being “inspired” from Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’ but he has also often quoted being influenced by the Hong Kong thriller ‘City on Fire’ (which was the source of Tarantino’s movie’s inspiration). And he does indeed pick up more than his share of scene from the Chow Yun Fat classic.
