Bollywood’s Obsession With Remakes And Its Subsequent Downfall

Bollywood films from Vikram Vedha to Jersey to Shehzaada to Mili to, Lal Singh Chaddha and to The Girl on the Train – what do all these films have in common? They are all remakes of popular films from Hollywood, Tamil and other language films and all of them failed wretchedly at the box office. When we look at some of the biggest hits these past few years – Stree 2, RRR, Brahmastra, Jawaan, Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani all of these movies were original and had something new to offer. So why is Bollywood obsessed with remakes and will remakes be its downfall?

What Went Wrong ?

Movies from South have been remade in Hindi constantly over the years (many being hits), and now, Hollywood and Korean films are also being remade. So why is it a problem now? Due to the rise of OTT, wherein a person can find any movie or series with subtitles remakes just work. After Covid-19, global content has become accessible to audience easily, and at a fraction of the money a person usually spends watching a film in theatres.

The audience wants more diverse content now as by the time a remake comes out, most have either already watched the original, or the thrill of seeing the film in theatres wanes due to oversaturation of content in market. To make the matters worse, if the remake is made without efforts, it fails all the more heavily at the box office.  

And despite facing severe criticism over these, Bollywood is determined to make more remakes specifically more South remakes. As seen with all new movies that are lined up for release over the coming years.

Originality And Bollywood

Stories that are rooted in Indian culture have always connected with Indian audiences, and that is apparent from a blockbuster like Jawaan to small-scale movies like Munjya, Stree 2. Even Brahmastra a movie with okay storyline, but still trying to create something new rooted in Indian Mythology was given a chance by the audience, Kalki 2898 AD, a sci-fi film inspired by Mahabharata, was also a hit.

So why is the Hindi film industry (the largest film industry in India) suffering from an identity crisis, which has only deteriorated over the last decade. The Hindi film industry has moved to Westernisation of Hindi plots, and then remakes. It lost its identity in this process. 

Karan Johar in an interview said that, I believe the major problem is that none of us on this panel have a really strong quality that any other member of the mainstream Hindi film business has, including me. Conviction is that. We tend to go with the flow at all times. Back in the 1970s, we had such a unique voice in Salim-Javed. We came up with a certain character, and the idea of that brooding, angry hero came from other movies. Then, something unexpected occurred in the 1980s, leading to an array of remakes. That’s where the loss of conviction began. We began remaking every Telugu and Tamil hit movie.

No Risks = No Creativity

The problem with Bollywood is that it has forgotten that it’s an artistic industry is meant to create and offer something new and different, Bollywood now has just become manufacturing machine churning out new films for profit.

And the reason for this is also funnily enough OTT, as now even before a film is released Bollywood is sure they would make a profit as an OTT platform would buy the rights to stream to the film before it even releases. Then they don’t need make efforts as profit is guaranteed. No risks is equal no creative is the phenomenon Bollywood is leaning towards.

A Hopeful Future

Even after all this Bollywood produces the best movies of Indian Cinema (when it actually tries something new) but is it enough for the industry to thrive and go back to its golden days. Now-a-days the concept of Pan Indian Films is on the rise ( Collaboration of all Indian film industries) and as this evolves the Indian Cinema has a whole would hopefully have more original, vibrant and diverse stories to offer.