Mr India to Laxmmi Bomb: When Bollywood remakes created controversies

It is the dawn of remakes in Bollywood. When not looking to the west or other international cinema, filmmakers in the Hindi film industry are choosing to remake films that have already proven to have the winning formula among the Indian audience. From bringing back the classics to recreating hits in regional cinemas, filmmakers in the Bollywood industry have been doing it all. However, of late, these remakes seem to be causing quite a stir within the industry.

Let's take a look at some remakes that made headlines for the wrong reasons.

Sonam Kapoor on Saturday came out vehemently against director Ali Abbas Zafar while stating that it is "disrespectful" that the original creators of the cult classic 'Mr India' were not involved and consulted for the remake of the film.

Earlier this week Zafar confirmed in a post that he would be helming a trilogy based on the 1987 Shekhar Kapur-directed movie, which featured Anil Kapoor as Mr India and late actress Sridevi as a journalist.

"A lot of people have been asking me about the 'Mr India' remake. Honestly, my father didn't even know the film was being remade, we found out about it through social media when @aliabbaszafar tweeted. It's quite disrespectful and underhanded if it is true, since no one bothered to consult my father or Shekhar uncle, two people who played a major role in making the film what it was and is," Sonam wrote in an Instagram post.

This came a day after Shekar also expressed his displeasure over the project, saying, "No one has even asked or mentioned to me about this film called 'Mr India 2'. I can only guess that they using the title to get a big weekend. For they cannot use the characters/story without permission from the original creators of the film," he posted on Twitter.

Moments after Shah Rukh Khan announced 'Bob Biswas', the spin-off of the Sujoy Ghosh directed ‘Kahaani’, it sent social media into a tizzy. While some were delighted to hear about the development of a negative character into a feature film, many were not that happy about Abhishek Bachchan taking over the part of the iconic character, originally played by actor Saswata Chatterjee.

While fans continued to express their displeasure about the same, in an interview with ETimes, Saswata said, “Why should I regret it? Rather, I am proud to see that the character I had created once will now be portrayed by the prince of the Bachchan family. As a Bengali, I am feeling proud. I have already essayed the character. It’s now Abhishek’s turn. I will definitely watch the film.”

Do you remember the iconic song 'Tip Tip Barsa Paani' from Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon starrer movie? The sensuous song has a special place in the hearts of millennials, and hence when it was announced that the song was being remade with Katrina Kaif stepping in for Raveena, fans weren't too happy. Many even slammed Akshay for recreating the song without with 'Mohra’ co-star. However, Raveena didn't seem to mind it at all as she reportedly said in a statement that she loves new remixes.

The upcoming Akshay Kumar starrer 'Laxmmi Bomb', the Hindi remake of 'Kanchana' was in the news all of 2019, courtesy, director Raghava Lawrence. The filmmaker set tongues wagging when he announced his decision to step down from the project after feeling "disrespected and disappointed" that the team launched the first poster without his knowledge. However, all seemed to have been forgiven and forgotten as the director returned to his place behind the camera within 10 days.

In a post, Lawrence said he was really happy to be a part of the project again and even thanked Akshay for "sorting all issues" and "giving him respect."

The Vijay Deverakonda starrer 'Arjun Reddy' earned heaps of praise and walked away with the moolah at the box office. The film eventually got a Hindi remake with also went on to become of the highest-grossing films of 2019, but it attracted criticism for being “misogynist” and “regressive”. As a section of the audience panned it, the film's director Sandeep Vanga Reddy justified the actions of his male lead, only to draw more flack and spark off an intense debate. Nonetheless, the Telugu blockbuster went on set cash counters ringing once again when its Tamil remake, 'Adithya Varma', released to good business in November.