Script, what script? Bollywood gets candid about 'inspiration' and imitation

Bollywood is known for many things — melodrama, razzle dazzle, song and dance routines, messing with the laws of physics in a way that makes worm holes seem mundane — but originality is not one of them. For decades, we’ve seen the industry get ‘inspired’ by others. Songs were copied, plots were borrowed, sequences were replicated, and it was done with an irreverent, gung-ho attitude.

“Seeta Aur Geeta was basically Ram Aur Shyam, only with two girls instead of two boys,” said producer-director Rohan Sippy, recounting the story of his father Ramesh Sippy’s film starring Hema Malini in a double role. “And Ram Aur Shyam was a remake of a Telugu film. It all came to a full circle when after Seeta Aur Geeta, some producers from the south came to my father for the rights of Seeta Aur Geeta. They were looking to remake a film that was a remake of a remake of an original that was from the south.” (If you really want to make your head spin, Ramudu Bheemudu, the Telugu original of Ram Aur Shyam, was based on Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Corsican Brothers.)

From the fact that one of the participants in Film Bazaar’s panel titled “Remakes: Financial and Creative Viability” was lawyer Ameet Naik, it’s evident that ‘inspiration’ isn’t quite as cheery and free-for-all as it used to be. Moderated by journalist Nyay Bhushan, the others on the panel were Sippy, Deborah Benattar of La Fabrique Films and Amar Butala, who heads up Salman Khan Ventures. Sippy’s last film, Nautanki Saala, was a remake of a French film and Benattar helped with the acquisition of those rights. Butala worked at UTV Disney before he joined Salman Khan Ventures and was the associate producer for Sajid Khan’s remake of Himmatwala.

Copyright is big business today, with both Indian filmmakers as well as foreign studios aggressively protecting their original works. According to Naik, if a film’s budget exceeds Rs 50 crore, then producers want to play it safe and this means buying the rights for remakes rather than risking a court case. Naik knows how much damage can be caused by legal hassles — acting on behalf of clients like 20th Century Fox, he’s made a number of Bollywood copycats rue their decision to adapt a film without acquiring rights. He’s the one who got an injunction against BR Chopra Films when they were about to release Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai, an unauthorised copy of My Cousin Vinny.

Interestingly, even though copying films isn’t necessarily a cheaper option anymore (since you have to buy the rights and then pay a screenwriter to adapt the script), the rate at which Bollywood churns out remakes hasn’t slowed down. This year alone we’ve seen a rash of such films, including Kick, Bang Bang and the upcoming Action Jackson. Telugu and Tamil blockbusters are regularly being translated to Hindi. As Sippy pointed out, it’s as though the industry is coming to a full circle. At one time, films from the south copied Bollywood and now Bollywood is turning to the south for stories. Sippy was rather philosophical on the topic of originality, arguing that there are only a clutch of ideas that are replicated over and over again, and that even the most original idea can be broken down to something basic like a love triangle or a father-son conflict. “You can’t have a monopoly on the triangle,” he said with a mischievous grin.

Butala was far more cutting. “There’s an obvious dearth of original content,” he said bluntly. “Actors, directors, technicians are all more comfortable seeing something and adapting it. Reading a script is something we’re still coming to terms with in mainstream Bollywood.” It’s a harsh but honest statement that wasn’t contradicted by anyone in the room. Central to the process of getting an actor to star in a Hindi film is to narrate the script to them, a practice unique to Bollywood. It isn’t enough to leave a script with them because most of them won’t read it. They want to hear it and so screenwriters and directors effectively read out the script to them, performing it for the actor.

With a number of Hollywood studios having put down roots in Mumbai, Butala sees more films like Bang Bang, which is a Fox Star Studios production in India and a remake of Knight and Day which in turn was distributed by 20th Century Fox internationally. “Studios are really excited about taking their IP [intellectual properties> and monetising it here,” he said. Perhaps in an effort to soften the blow he’d dealt with his comment on Bollywood’s inherent illiteracy, Butala pointed out that especially in case of expensive films, the original provides both a roadmap for those making the film and an assurance to those producing the film. “It’s an art meets commerce situation,” he explained. “We’re expecting the studios to pay the big bucks so it’s only natural that they’ll want to cover their a**es.”

While this explains why films like Agneepath, Himmatwala, Don, Kick and other blockbusters are remade, it doesn’t hold out much hope for original scripts in Bollywood. Neither does it seem likely that any of the films that are available for remakes at this year’s Film Bazaar will get much love even though the list includes titles like Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Satyajit Ray’s Agantuk and Govind Nihalani’s Party. As powerful, well-written and relevant as these films might be, they’re not the stuff of blockbusters, which is all that is of interest to Bollywood, it seems. Ironically, the reason they’re available for remakes is probably that those holding the rights would like to make a quick buck. Still, there is something a little heartbreaking to know that a mindless action flick will be snapped up for obscene amounts of money, but these films by legends of Indian cinema are most likely to be ignored. All because they’re not formulaic.

While Butala did accept the Hindi film industry is guilty of playing safe, one can’t help wondering just what kind of original scripts and ideas Butala has encountered as a producer. There was a palpable resignation in his voice when he talked about directors and writers in Bollywood. “Not all directors should write and not all writers can direct,” he said bluntly before adding that most directors who want to write come up with bad scripts. “Hopefully, along the way, we’ll get writers who will want to write,” Butala said later, when the panel was talking about how remakes are usually a safer and therefore better business idea than original scripts.

No one in the panel or in the audience contradicted him. On the contrary, it was almost as though a silent ‘amen’ fluttered through a room full of screenwriters, filmmakers, journalists and cinephiles.