From Korea to Bollywood
The shameless folks at the Bollywood copy cat department are at it again. Only this time it is not a Hollywood film but a film from Korea. Yes, Sanjay Gupta, who earlier brought Reservoir Dogs to the Indian shores (in his rather lamentable "Kaante"), is now planning to do the same with Oldboy, the subject of my previous post. In the hindi version, which is called Zinda Sanjay Dutt plays the hapless abductee and John Abraham plays his tormentor and nemesis. I am told that Gupta has spared us songs and dances this time, no not even item songs!
In a sense this is good. Interested people will come to know that there is a vibrant film industry in Korea and it is sometimes worthwhile to get a feel of what is coming out from there. What I am mystified about is how close Gupta can take the story to the original. Not that I doubt Sanjay Dutt's acting capacity, but even achieving half of what the Oldboy's hero did, will be a very big achievement indeed. One thing is sure, Dutt is not going to eat a live octopus for a film! I am sure too that the twist in the Indian version will be different. The original will be too outre for the audiences of regular Bollywood films.
Check out the trailers of Zinda here. Even the trailer is copied! Original here.
2 comments:
In a sense this is good. Interested people will come to know that there is a vibrant film industry in Korea and it is sometimes worthwhile to get a feel of what is coming out from there
It is bad in every sense. A dubbed version is a better choice. And many people will not know that its a remake, and even if they know, they will think its a remake of a Hollywood movie. No credit either explicitly or otherwise will be given to Oldboy.
Also, I must tell you one interesting incident, the last time I went to Paalika Bazaar to get the DVDs, the owner is boasting of his quality and genuineness by saying Sanjay Gupta is one of his regular customers (he showed me his visiting card too as a proof) and suggested me some titles that he took. If I remember correctly, Oldboy was one of them :) Zinda is copied from a pirated DVD, beware :)
You are joking about Sanjay Gupta, right? ;)
Can't believe this and I thought Gupta had at least gone to Cannes and saw this film :)
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