The previous weekend, 5th February saw the release of a much celebrated film’s Tamil version. Yes, I am talking about Bangalore Naatkal. A common complaint about this version was that it lacked the magic the original boasted about. When one gives a microscopic look to that complaint, a lot of points can be understood about the Indian Film Industry as a whole.

Years back, remakes worked big time for even superstars. Rajinikanth was spotted remaking multiple films of Amitabh Bachchan and almost all the ventures came out with flying colours. Not to forget the most enjoyable Munna Bhai MBBS that took an Indian tour.
 

Few filmmakers used the idea of remaking to give limelight to a couple of great tales that did not garner enough attention in other localities. This is a noble idea and such attempts should always be encouraged. The argument here is about films which garner the entire nation’s attention!

In case of Papanasam which is the remake of the popular Malayalam flick Dhrishyam, undoubtedly the Kamal Haasan factor saved its team accompanied by Jeethu Joseph’s writing and neat performances of the cast. It was the same when Shankar decided to bring 3 Idiots to Tamil. Smart casting idea retained the thunder for the Tamil version too. While such exceptions certainly exist, it is undeniable that in the current scenario, remake is not a great idea for multiple reasons. This implies to Tamil films that get remade too.

1. Audiences are exposed to all language films and they patronize any language film with good content.
2. The original films exhibited good nativity and a flavour more relatable to the language specific audience.
3. Like the saying “Golden words cannot be repeated”, the charisma of the original version is seamlessly lost in the process of remaking it.

Now that Premam, Vedalam and Thani Oruvan are hot buns in the remake market, as a true cinema buff, I am worried. Is it a great idea really? Should we disturb the charm of the original version? There are wide trolls and hatred towards the Telugu remake of Premam already. Keeping all this in mind, filmmaker’s should definitely reconsider their remake ideas.