Bollywood continues to count on remakes

Some of them smartly do it in the guise of paying tribute to yesteryear Hindi cinema. Few accept that it is plain lack of new ideas and creativity. But whatever the reason, the trend of remakes has gained momentum full throttle. Bollywood is busy packaging old wines in new bottles with the same title and a hatke twist. And what’s interesting is, the films that have been revisited the most are those that released in the late 70s and 80s.Here’s a look at some of them:
Films in the past
Old: Khubsoorat (1980)
Remake: Khoobsurat (2014)
Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s lighthearted film was adapted by Shashanka Ghosh, with Sonam Kapoor stepping into Rekha’s shoes. While the premise of the movie remained the same — a ‘misfit’ entering a family and winning them over — the treatment of the remake was completely different. Pakistan’s Fawad Khan has become the flavour of the season post this film.
ALSO READ: Positive word-of-mouth makes 'Khoobsurat' a hit
Films that are presently being remade
Old: Shaukeen (1982)
Remake: The Shaukeens
This Basu Chatterjee offering is about three lecherous old men (Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and AK Hangal) and their attempts to woo a young girl (Rati Agnihotri), who is actually dating their driver Mithun Chakraborty. The remake, helmed by Abhishek Sharma, is also about three naughty seniors (Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra) who are bowled over by the sexy Lisa Haydon. She, in turn, has a crush on superstar Akshay Kumar who is seen playing himself on screen but with a twist.
Old: Ram Lakhan (1989)
Remake: Ram Lakhan (2016)
Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty recently announced the remake of Subhash Ghai’s Anil Kapoor-Jackie Shroff-starrer. Ghai will also be involved in the film as a producer. Several youngsters names are being bandied around, but the casting is far from clear as of now.
ALSO READ: Khoobsurat director: Who's seen Rekha's Khoobsurat?
Old: Hero (1983)
Remake: Hero
Subhash Ghai’s Hero was a game-changer for both Jackie Shroff and Meenakshi Seshadri. This love story is currently being remade by Nikhil Advani and stars newcomers Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty, along with Vinod Khanna and Govinda. In Ghai’s words, Advani has contemporised the script to suit today’s tastes.
Further remakes in the pipeline
Katha (1983)
Sai Paranjpye’s drama that is set in Mumbai’s chawl is the latest film to join the remake bandwagon. Set in Mumbai 2015, the contemporary version will be helmed by a noted critic-turned-filmmaker under the guidance of Sai. The original had Naseeruddin Shah, Farooque Shaikh and Deepti Naval in the lead.
Nagin (1976)
Ekta Kapoor has acquired the rights of the Jeetendra-Reena Roy-starrer and is hoping to give the film a contemporary twist. Interestingly, director of the original, Rajkumar Kohli had remade the film as Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani in 2002 with an ensemble star cast that included Akshay Kumar, Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala and his son, the now-in-the-news, Armaan Kohli.
Khalnayak (1993)
Another of Ghai’s films that is set for a remake is Khalnayak. Though the filmmaker announced the decision last year, it’s only recently that Sanjay Leela Bhansali reportedly expressed interest in associating himself with this project.
Other remakes attempted in the recent past
Himmatwala (2013) — Himmatwala with Jeetendra (1983)
Chashme Baddoor (2013) — Sai Paranjype’s Chashme Buddoor (1981)
Zanjeer (2013) — Prakash Mehra’s Zanjeer (1973)
Agneepath (2012) — Agneepath with Amitabh Bachchan (1990)
Bol Bachchan (2012) — Hrishikesh Mukerjee’s Golmaal (1979)
Watch: Khoobsurat Trailer