The trend in Bollywood is on towards creating remakes of the mega hits or epics, but in a different way. This time the trend is to change the plot according to the need of the society today. Ram Gopal Verma comes out with ‘Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag’, which modernizes Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay. Now Devdas in on the dissection table.
Two bollywood directors are ready to perform the dissection. Anurag Kashyap comes out with his ‘Dev D‘ starring Abhay Deol and is quite serious in putting a twist in the classinc end. While on the other hand, Sudhir Mishra is all set to re interprete the classic love story into a modern political context. In an interview he said,
It’s not only Devdas. Devdas is just the takeoff point. Like if you see Westside Story it’s directly linked to Romeo & Juliet. In my film from Devdas I also go into Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I feel when Saratchandra wrote Devdas in 1901 he must have had Hamlet in mind… I’m putting both the tragic hero’s into a modern context and political leaning. It would be dramatic debate on Devdas, Hamlet and Indian politics. Chandramukhi will be portrayed as a keeper of dark political secrets while Paro will be a part of an opposing political party
Well, it must be an honest try, but there should be a certain limit to stretch or modify a classic so that the classic never loses its attraction. By piling modern political aspect and Hamlet theory with the classic story of Devdas is the director doing any justice towards the novel? Or can he draw the attention of all the people who has seen and enjoyed the classic as it is, and have loved the story for whatever it is. Now attempting a terrific remake can actually trigger a backfire. Last time with Shahrukh Khan it created a definite amount of controversy regarding the modification of the movie. Now a complete renovation, can lead to anything.
However, the attempt should be appreciated. With all copy paste works in bollywood, some original thinking is in progress. But what are we leading to? Perhaps some day some other director will come out with ideas to put Ramayan in the current social trend and replace the entire cast with terrorists and UN army. Some epics are better not disturbed. They have their own effect. May be they are not suited in the current perspective, but they have their own attractions. This is the main reason why they are called classics, and should be left alone with their own attractions.
