aamir khan aur remakes ki daastaan – part 1 of 2

Today, 14th March, is Aamir Khan’s birthday. I wish him a very Happy Birthday.

I have wanted to write this article from a long time, to be precise after the release of Mann. Eventually, after the release and the super-success of Ghajini I have got down to writing it. There is something with Aamir and movie remakes, he has consistently been a part of movies which are remakes. Its definitely not his fault that he has featured in them, its the writer-director who were looking for a quick and readymade storylines  and of course the producer for easy money. And let me also say that he is not the only star to feature in remakes, as we all know, but the quality of the remakes is what differentiates him from the rest. Why I have analysed him is because, out of the 40 odd movies that he has made, nearly 10 of them have been remakes which is like 25%. Let me go ahead and write down about these movies in a chronological manner of their release wrt Aamir’s filmography.

1. It Happened One Night – 1934 : Clark Gable played the male lead Peter, he even went on to win the Oscar for the Best Actor. It was a
heart-warming movie with a smiple storyline. A small time reporter Peter is looking for a big story and he meets a high-browed lady Ellie
[Claudette Colbert] who has escaped from the clutches of her dad and is on the run to meet her beau. How they both make the journey from
Florida to NY, the small squabbles that they have and how they eventually fall in love with each other is what the movie is about.The
movie went on to win 5 Oscars; apart from Clark Gable, Claudette won the Best Actress, Frank Capra won the Best Director, it was awarded
the Best Movie and Best Writing/Adaptation.

The formula was a sure-shot success, and so in 1956 a movie named ‘Chori Chori’ starring Raj Kapoor and Nargis was released. Raj Kapoor
played the struggling reporter named Sagar while Nargis was Kammo. The highlight of this movie was the songs and especially the puppet-act of
Raj and Nargis. The movie had some brilliant compositions from Shankar-Jaikishan like ‘Panchhi Banoo Udti Phiroon’, ‘Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mei Hum’, ‘Jahan Mai Jaati Hoon Wahin Chale Aate Ho’ and ‘Rasik Balma’. SJ won the Filmfare for Best Music Director.

If you watch Mehmood’s Bombay To Goa, you can see the same theme where Aruna Irani is trying to escape to meet her lover Shatrughan Sinha and is guided all the way by Amitabh Bachchan. But it was dished out in a different way, they changed the screenplay totally and added the
comedy angle to it. This occured to me just now, wonder why I did not think of it earlier.

Anyways, the person who did not deviate from the original screenplay was the Robin Bhat-Mahesh Bhat duo. They stayed faithful to IHON and
in 1991 came Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin starring Aamir Khan as Raghu Jaitley and Pooja Bhatt as Pooja. Aamir exuded the same kind of charm
as Clark Gable. In fact, he went a few notches up in the emotional sequences where he could neither stop Pooja from meeting her lover nor
could he tell her that he has fallen for her. Aamir played the role with gusto beginning with the telephone-booth sequence, then the
request-for-lift scene and ending it with the elopement. The entire journey was fantastic, but the magical moment has to be the one where
he starts humming ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke’ with a cigarette between his lips and Pooja in his arms. Only after this does he realise that he
has started liking Pooja. The movie received 4 Filmfare nominations, for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Comedian [Anupam Kher playing
Pooja’s father] and Best Female Singer. Anuradha Paudwal took home the award for the title track, while the rest just remained nominated.

2. Breaking Away – 1979 : This was a really nice movie about a good-for-nothing dude Dave Stoller [Dennis Christopher] who has no aim
or ambition and leads a non-chalant life. His parents keep reminding him about his responsibilities but he just loves spending time with
his friends and riding the bicycle. He has a chance meeting with a beautiful girl Katherine [Robyn Douglass] and to make friends with her he fakes his identity to be a guitar playing Italian exchange student. While he is dating Katherine an entourage of Italian bikers happen to come to his town for a Little500 race. He loves watching them pratcise and shows his talent with the bicycle. He hopes to get close to them by showing that he can keep up to their pace, but he beats them in a friendly dash; but instead of lauding his effort they just push him into a ditch. That really breaks Dave’s herat and he loses all respect for the Italian cyclists. He decides to take part in the Little500 race wearing the ‘Cutters’ jersey; referring to the lesser privileged people who are not able to complete their education but take pride in hardwork. He ofcourse goes on to win the race and create history. The movie won the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay; but it lost in the 4 other categories Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Music.

In 1992, Mansoor Khan took a lot of inspiration from this movie and made Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. I have used the word ‘inspiration’ because the movie was not a scene-to-scene remake. Lots of new things were introduced, but the plot, storyline and the spirit of the original was kept intact. Mansoor wrote a brilliant screenplay and dialogues by Nasir Hussain were really good, they breathed a life into the Sanjaylal character played by Aamir Khan. They retained the sub-plot of Aamir faking his identity and calling himself a Xavier student so he can go around with Devika[Pooja Bedi] and ultimately she gets to know the truth. The friendship of Sanjaylal and Anjali[Ayesha Jhulka] was handled with maturity and utmost honesty. Mansoor Khan introduced an emotional quotient attaching a prestige to the Annual Cycle Race and added the nostalgia of Sanjaylal’s dad[Kulbhushan Kharbanda] having won the race once upon a time. And the burden of bringing home the cup rested on Ratanlal [Mamik], Sanjay’s elder brother. But when Ratanlal is severely injured from an accident inflicted upon by the Rajput College boys, Sanjaylal takes it upon himself to bring home the coveted honor and take revenge against the Rajput College boys. The movie won the Filmfare for Best Film. Aamir was excellent in the movie, to say the least.

3. Houseboat – 1958 : This movie starred Carry Grant as Tom Winters, who works in the state department of Washington and Sophia Loren as
Cinzia who is the daughter of an Italian conductor. The movie is about Tom whose estranged wife dies in a car crash and he decides to raise the 3 kids, but the kids despise him. In his effort to befriend the kids he takes them to a concert, but the youngest kids get bored and goes out to have some fresh air and play his harmonica. The kid runs into Cinzia who has runaway from home after a small squabble with her dad. Cinzia is able to strike a chord with the kids and since she has nowhere to go, she accepts Tom’s offer of being their housemaid/nanny. After some wandering around and having seen their travelling house [home on wheels] getting destroyed due to a speeding train; they finally move into a houseboat. Tom’s sister-in-law who has a crush on him tries to woo, but slowly and surely Tom finds himself falling for Cinzia. How they get married and how the kids finally accept their dad and new mom is what the rest of the movie is about.

In 1993 a movie titled after a popular Dev Anand song released, the movie was Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. It was again the combination of Robin Bhat-Mahesh Bhat who systematically copied the movie scene-by-scene. The only thing that they changed was that, the kids were Aamir Khan’s nephews and nieces and not his own. And Aamir becomes the caretaker of the kids after the sad demise of his sister and brother-in-law in a car crash. They also introduced the character Mishraji [Mushtaq Khan] who had returned from Japan after getting trained in assembly-line production; and they made use of this by adding the twist of having to deliver the bulk order of 1 lakh shirts. Apart from this, rest of the movie remained faithful to the original. It was so faithful that the Cinzia character’s Italian dialogues were translated to suit Juhi Chawla’s tamil character Vyjayanthi. The concert, mouth-organ playing kid, taking the kids to visit the museum, Vyjayanthi’s advise of treating the kids with maturity were all the same as in the original. All the kids did a great job, especially Kunal Khemu who went onto become an actor. Aamir was also the Assisstant Director of this movie, in fact this was the phase when Mahesh Bhat was considered to be the most busy director, so busy that he was supposedly giving instructions over the phone; that was the reason for Aamir to step-in as Assisstant Director. This did not stop the movie from winning the Filmfare for Best Actress, Best Film and Best Lyricist[Sameer].

4. Kramer Vs Kramer – 1979 : It was a movie about a marriage gone wrong and a divorce case ending up in a courtroom. Dustin Hoffman as
Ted Kramer, a workaholic from advertising industry marries Joanna Kramer, played by Merly Streep. One day when he returns home after being given a big assignment with a new client, he finds his wife walking away. She wishes to walk-out on him, leaving behind her son Billy. Now, its upto Ted to look after Billy. He does so with some help from Margaret, his neighbour. One day, as they sit around the park while the kid is playing, Billy has a minor accident and is bleeding profusely. Ted makes a mad rush to a hospital amidst the traffic and speeding cars. A year and half later, Joanna returns to seek custody of Billy and this is where a bitter court battle ensues. There is a lot of bad blood and lot of vicious remarks being made about Ted’s carelessness in taking care of the baby. Finally, Joanna being a mom, wins the battle on emotional grounds and Ted is left alone. The movie won 5 Oscars, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Mansoor Khan could not resist this movie as well. In 1995 he remade this movie and titled it ‘Akele Hum Akele Tum’. He just changed the fields of interest, i.e., Aamir Khan as Rohit is a promising singer who sings for a club and awaiting his opportunity to sing in a movie. His love interest Kiran, played by Manisha Koirala, is learning classical music. She is a fan of Rohit and she makes it to one of his New Year shows where they meet and falling in love seems inevitable. Soon after the breezy romance they get married and realise that life is not easy. Kiran is ambitious and she is not willing to sacrifice her singing so she walks out on him, leaving Rohit with his son Sunil, played by Aadil. How Rohit and Sunil manage  together and how Kiran comes back into their lives to reclaim Sunil forms rest of the courtroom drama. Aamir gave a very well restrained performance but the same cannot be said of Manisha. The movie had some good songs but was marred by plagiarism where Anu Malik lifted the famous Last Christmas song of George Michael. Also, there was a rubbish spoofing of Nadeem-Shravan duo; Shafi Inamdar and Harish Patel played the crook music directors Amar-Kaushal, who are after Rohit’s composition. I am not sure whose idea it was, TIPS guys or Anu Malik but it was in bad taste. Anyways, the movie bombed at the box-office. Only Aamir and Adil’s performance added some value to the otherwise dull movie.

5. Godfather – 1972 : How does one even start-off talking about a movie like ‘Godfather’. I shall not go into the plot and drama because its totally unnecssary. And I will not be able to say anything that has not already been said.

In 1975 Feroz Khan paid tribute to Godfather with his version named Dharmatma. But he twisted the plot towards the second half, where instead of allying with his father and their forces Feroz plays against them. Feroz Khan repeated the same concept in Jaanbaaz and Yalgaar without much success. In 1992 a movie named Zulm Ki Hukumat was released. The movie starred Dharamendra as Pitamber Kohli and Govinda played Pratap Kohli aka Michael of Godfather. This was one of the first proper remakes of Godfather. The movie fared pretty well and I liked Govinda’s perfromance.

Even after all this, we still had Aamir in line to pay tribute to Godfather. So, he acted his part in Atank Hi Atank which released in 1995. He played the role of Michael, which Al Pacino had played. In fact, it was quite fascinating to see Aamir with a moustache and his wet-hair all combed back, he looked like he meant business. This movie had Rajnikanth playing Sonny, I think the only time that Aamir and Rajni have ever worked  together. But none of this could save the movie at the box-office.

to be continued …

Click here for part 2 of 2

This post was first published on PFC

 

most memorable filmfare awards of 1992-93

Most awards, you know, they don’t give you unless you go and get them – did you know that? Terribly discouraging.
– Barbra Streisand

The topic of awards is quite a sensitive one. But, at the same time its also a topic of much controversy when the right people do not get it and the wrong ones are awarded, for whatever reasons.

Like the practise goes, of giving away awards a year after they release, obviously; here too the awards were given away in 1993 for the films that released in 1992. This awards  night was the last time that I saw the entire show. One of the reasons being that, I had started losing respect for them.

Anyways, this award night was quite remarkable in more ways than one. This was also the last time that Aamir Khan attended the show. Not just attended the show, he performed too. Aamir and Juhi danced to the Ghoonghat Ki Aad Se Dilbar Ka song from the movie HHRPK. In fact, Filmfare awards was a kind of platform to promote upcoming movies and stars usually performed songs from their to-be released movies, thereby reaching a wider audience.

Shahrukh too performed, alongwith Kajol, to the songs of Baazigar. It was great to see Aamir and SRK on Filmfare podium. It just looked like the future of Indian movies was bright, in safe hands and heading in the right direction.

Coming back to the awards distribution, let me start with the last award of the night. The previous year, in 1992, Dimple Kapadia was called on stage to give away the award for Best Actor. She had pulled open the envelope with great enthusiasm and she shrieked into the mike with all her energy ‘Amitabh Bachchan for Hum‘ and had handed-over the award to Bachchan with great excitement. This being 1993, and Bachchan being nominated for Khuda Gawah, it seemed like it was more than a coincidence that Dimple Kapadia was asked to give away the prestigious award again. When she came onto the dias, she seemed to be so unexcited and disinterested. She did not even pull open the envelope, she just held it up in the air, against the light, and calmly declared ‘Anil Kapoor for Beta‘.

I felt Dimple was being teased, she herself might have felt that. That aside, when there were more worthy nominees like Aamir for JJWS and Bachchan, the award went to Anil for a movie that was carried entirely on Madhuri Dixit’s shoulder. Not just this award, Beta swept the awards with Best Actress for Madhuri, Best Supporting Actress for Aruna Irani, Best Female Singer for Anuradha Paudwal for Dhak-dhak number, and of course the Best Choregraphy for Saroj Khan for the same song.

JJWS won just 1 award for Best Film. JJWS did not win any awards in acting categories, what was more disappointing was the way in which JJWS was deprived of awards in music category. There was a minor goof-up on the stage, while the nominess were being read out for Best Lyricist, Majrooh saab heard his name and mistook it for the announcement of the winner and he just walked onto the stage. The award was very undeservedly given to Sameer for Teri Umeed Tera Intezar Karte Hain, and Majrooh’s fantastic lyrics of Pehla Nasha Pehla Khumar was swept aside. It took Simi Grewal’s experience that she handled, what could have become an utterly embarassing situation, by asking Majrooh to hand-over the award to Sameer.

After that, the Best Music Director award went to Nadeem-Shravan for Deewana, and Jatin-Lalit’s wonderful tunes of JJWS were side-lined; that was really disheartening. The worst was not over yet. The nominations in the Best Male Singer was read out and again the award went to Kumar Sanu for Sochenge Tumhe Pyar Karen Ki Nahi from Deewana. I was so disappointed that Udit Narayan did not win the award for Pehla Nasha Pehla Khumar. Not just disappointed, that was the first, last and only time that I cried for an award not being given to the most deserved one.

That very moment I told to myself, lets see 10 years down the line which song will be remembered. I did not have to wait for 10 years because within 2-3 years people forgot the tunes and lyrics of Deewana while Pehla Nasha became the anthem for all lovers, for everyone who is in love, for everybody who has romance alive in their hearts. The song has become immortal and there is hardly anyone who has not heard the song Pehla Nasha.

Pehla Nasha … a song that pushed an entire generation to fall in love, a song that resonates in our ears whenever we hear about a new budding love-story, a song thats present in every compilation of love songs and Valentine’s Day celebrations. Udit’s mellifluous voice, the simple and melodious piano sequence, the wonderful lyrics…the song is just pure magic.

There onwards, the trend continued and awards were being doled out to all the undeserving people. It turned into a popularity award instead of an award being given for talent or achievement. I soon lost faith in the awards as the sanctity of awards was being destroyed.

I was reminded of the celebrations that took place when the founders of the awards had called upon Gregory Peck to inaugrate the first Filmfare Awards. It was all so promising that we had an awards show on the lines of the Academy Awards [Oscars] and that awards would be given to recognise the contribution and talent of film-makers and as an encouragement to do better work ahead.

And here we had the institution of awards becoming a machinery being oiled by the celebrities whom the panelist/jurist/trustess favoured. The more I hated awards, the more number of awards ceremony sprung up from all quarters. We soon had Zee, Star, Screen, Stardust giving out awards. Anyways, coming back to Filmfare Awards, it was saddening to see the awards being celebritized.

To end the post on a bright note, this year the awards that were given away for movies in 2008 was much better and more fairer. I even wrote about it here. I hope they are in the right track on their way to recover lost glory.