Plagiarism as an art-form

By Vikramdeep Johal

THE latest Aamir Khan starrer Ghulam shows that Bollywood simply cannot shake off its slavish mentality. Yet again, it has bowed to the temptation of borrowing from successful movies. This film is a copy or (using the better-sounding word) — a ‘remake’ of the Marlon Brando classic On the Waterfront. The story of two brothers trapped in a world of corruption and exploitation has infact been exploited on at least two earlier occasions, the films being Kabzaa with Sanjay Dutt and Raj Babbar and Parinda with Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor.

The creative wells in the story departments of Bollywood are apparently running dry. Acres and acres of plots are being stolen, particularly from American films, as plagiarism has almost acquired the status of an art-form. The current decade has witnessed a veritable flood of remakes and rip-offs, thanks to all those avid viewers of Hollywood movies working in our film industry.

The versatility of our story-writers can be judged from the fact that they have lifted different kinds of stories — about crazed lovers, caring fathers, underworld dons, even ghosts. These desi versions include Deewana (Sleeping with the Enemy), Darr (Love Hate Love), Fareb and Takkar (Unlawful Entry), Baazigar (A Kiss Before Dying), Akele Hum Akele Tum (Sleepless in Seattle), Chachi 420 and Aunty No. 1 (Mrs Doubtfire) and, two spooky ones, Maa and Pyar Ka Saaya (Ghost). That what you call (re)making hay while the sun shines!

As far as the procedure for doing a rehash is concerned, it involves first of all the selection of a Hollywood film (or two). Not all American movies, however, are considered appropriate for copying. For example, stories of aliens, prehistoric creatures, natural disasters etc, made by dozens there, are avoided. This does not mean that our filmwallahs regard such films as sacred.

No, there are other reasons. Firstly, such a project is likely to expose the technological inferiority (and hence lower the dignity) of our film industry. Secondly, keeping in mind the fastidiousness of Indian viewers, it is too risky a venture to be undertaken.

After all, it is highly doubtful whether our public would accept Sunny Deol or Akshay Kumar battling it out against a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a God-zilla, or even a tornado.

After the judiciously done selection comes the next step called operation Indianisation. This involves changing the names of the characters, places etc along with translating the dialogue from English into Hinglish. Also, the sex scenes, if any, are toned keeping in view the conservative attitudes of the censors as well as Indian sensibility. A heavy dose of schmaltz — remembering that Indians are regarded as sentimental fools — is added too.

The last part of this process is the most challenging one, calling for creativity and skill. The fact that American films are usually around two hours long and ours are close to three implies that the extra hour has to be filled at any cost. For this, at least half-a-dozen song-and-dance sequences are created (generally out of thin air); a couple of fight sequences are introduced and the climax is lengthened. A comedian is cordially invited to amuse and to consume few minutes’ time. And, at the end of it, a three-hour-long, ideal commercial movie, oozing with entertainment is born.

By the way, this remake business is certainly not a recent phenomenon in Bollywood. Remember the Raj Kapoor-Nargis starrer Chori Chori ? It was based on Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night. Similarly, the Biswajeet-Waheeda Rahman classic Kohra was a version of Rebecca. In those days rehashing was definitely done, but it was rather sparse and secretive.

The floodgates, so to speak, opened in the 70s, when our film-makers began to steal Hollywood stories with gay abandon. The Godfather became Dharmatma, The Magnificent Seven was turned into Khotey Sikkey, The Exorcist into Jadu Tona, Some Like it Hot became Rafoo Chakkar etc. A little later, with the arrival of video technology, the activity gained further momentum as it facilitated minute observation of scenes, which were then copied, shot-by-shot. The trend continues unabated, though it has been deprived of its former secretiveness and subtlety.

Today, most film-makers openly acknowledge the sources of their films and consider it a matter of great pride to be involved with the rehash of a famous film, thereby uniquely combining "inspiration " with "perspiration".

Hollywood, however, is not the only source for our filmwallahs. Extremely reluctant to use their own brains or to pick stories and subjects from the wealth of literature (both fictional and non-fictional) available, they refuse to reject even the ghar ki murgis, least of all those ones which have laid golden eggs in their time. Highly successful films like Waqt, Zanjeer, Sholay and Ram aur Shyam have been recycled umpteens of times, more often than not producing poor results and proving that it is not child’s play to get hits just by borrowing the plot and scenes of popular movies.

Surprising though it may appear, Bollywood cannot even take the credit for starting this tradition of xeroxing. Good ol’ Hollywood (who else?) is the trendsetter here. Remaking has been going on there for decades. It was prevalent even in the 30s and the 40s, widely regarded as the Golden Age of American cinema.

For want of fresh ideas or due to the temptation of putting old wine into new bottles, this practice has never gone out of fashion. So much so that eminent directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil deMille and Howard Hawks has no qualms about repeating their own films.

Talking of the scene today, some of the recent releases (Titanic, Flubber, Godzilla, The Nutty Professor) as well as forthcoming ones (Doctor Dolittle, A Perfect Murder, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Mask of Zorro) are all remakes. When not busy doing sequels, the big studios like to churn out new versions of old hits (They do, however, tap literary sources occasionally, from which our people usually stay away).

It is nothing but formulaic, play-it-safe policy which, not surprisingly, is very encouraging for our own movie-makers. Obviously they do not mind redoing films of an industry which itself thrives on remakes.

Even if one acknowledges the fact that commercial cinema is all about cliches and formulas, that novel and purposeful ideas (these include stories about human beings, not aliens and dinosaurs) are hard to accept due to the high risk factor, is it still too much to expect decent, enjoyable remakes?

Most of the versions of both desi and foreign films are appallingly bad, coming nowhere near the originals. After all, the real thing is to evoke the spirit, the enduring appeal of the original and not just borrow the characters and the plots.

Even if one avoids comparisons, things do not look significantly better. Only a handful of such films come to mind which possess a noteworthy identity of their own and, at the same time, can also be called almost as good, if not better, than the ones on which they were based.

These include Aamir Khan’s Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin (It Happened One Night) and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (Breaking Away), Amar Akbar Anthony (Waqt) and Kohra (Rebecca).

Not far behind are Parinda (On the Waterfront), Satte Pe Satta (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), Aitbaar (Dial M for Murder) and Karma (Sholey).

All copies, no doubt, but there is definitely something imaginative, something creative about their treatment of the plots that separates them from the crowd of ersatz versions, thereby emphasising that the use of a little aql can lend respectability (and sometimes do wonders) even to a naql.