The Moneyball: Can Film Remake Charm the box Office?

As I continue my journey from my earlier blog on remakes, I feel I am hooked to these somehow.  Here comes another yesteryears’ yesteryear remake in question that made me sit up from my sleep time and stuff my mouth with crisps and popcorns in the wee hours of my day. The commercial block buster of both times, the film ‘Don’ make me hail the well-proclaimed King of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan for knowing the art of diving deepest, yet sailing through against all tides! I know it may sound cliched, but there is just no other way than to admit that Sharukh Khan at the time was here to stay. You can hate him, love him, envy him, immortalise him; but you can never ignore him. And I am not a fan. So, I know that Ra One was big mistake, but he was not. Similarly Don2 has its own slow moments, with weak cliches script and acting that is left to be desired; yet his charisma was way beyond and consistent throughout the two parts. It is a respite especially for ever-tired mums like me who just want to vegetate, with a typical top-knot and pjs, and enjoy just to lay back in the comforts of our sofa and ogle a handsome face as part of our movie marathon, absorbing the nostalgia towards our dreamland.

Then when I think about the difference in success rates of such remakes, many time I feel that the newer version tend to gross more at the box office compared to the originals. Even though time does not bring a rise in the commercial value of the existing movie that much, but the remakes however make up to it at the box office. Most of the time the reason behind the global and commercial reach is the development in existing technology, advancement in cinematographic techniques, progressive change of shift in ideologies, social, political views that change with the advertising and marketing methods. Another reason can also be, these remakes cater to various social requirements of the times, thus bringing in an inevitable rize in economic success. Thinking along these lines even in my sleepy mind I can very well connect the dots behind the success of this movie in front of me. although There may be quite a few moments where as viewer I can feel that the script or dialogues are not doing justice to the name or the whole film itself. However the craft of film making while I am watching the scenes, the finess of special effects and advanced editing techniques very well covered the loopholes for me as a consumer of the whole franchise! Even though I might not be happy due to my nit-picking habit, I end up still being a contended audience in the comfort of my house!

Even though I don’t appreciate the ‘wild-cat’ cliched dialogues, yet the style quotient of the film, the actors and the whole production left nothing else for me a viewer to feel except ‘oomph!‘ for time well re-spent. Thank God for small mercies!  The action sequenced with the execution of the movie gets a full round of applaud from me as an audience who just cannot digest the over-the-top sounds effects of the fight-scenes. and yes, again the female lead of the remake, Priyanka Chopra indeed tried maintained the image of an officer on call, ready to fight the real fight (well as real as a Bollywood commercial flick allows its female to be). Her acting though has its own question marks on which my tired brain at the end of the hectic day is not even focussing. Well, this time I am even ready to forgive the director, Farhaan Akhtar’s slack in the scripting department because of his intelligence in looping Shahrukh Khan along. It was indeed out and out a spiced-up Bollywood flick. Each camera angle, colour scheme, lights and even the extreme close-ups defined and fully justified his larger-than-life persona. It was a beautiful remake to look at and enjoy without putting much brain into it. The director indeed make Don look so suave and sexy that it was a complete justification for audience who just want to watch and enjoy the experience of cinema being a beautiful craft.

As I was closing my eyes for the day, in my subconscious satiated self, I was just hoping that I may be able to binge watch more such Bollywood commercial ‘Don(s)’ and their remakes, so I can wake up recharged for another tiresome reality – life! I so wish we see more of such movies in double digits, even surpassing the numbers of James Bond saga. Ian truth for us audience who feed on the beauty and the craft of making moolah-collecting commercial remakes, it is Shahrukh Khan who is the actual wild cat of this movie. His walk, talk and the whole demeanour is of a different sensuous nature that will redefine the concept of metrosexual in Bollywood for a long time. Indeed, this cat has more than 10 lives allotted, for it keep on coming back again and again for its next pounce! Well till another binge-watching superficial dissection of next remake…