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Bollywood rehashed
Television can't seem to have enough of Bollywood. After playing popular Hindi tracks in the background, modelling characters on film stars, now soaps have gone overboard by airing rip offs of popular movies.For instance Ekta Kapoor's Kis Des Mein Hai Mera Dil and Tujh Sang Preet Lagai Sajna have similarities with Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Saudagar/Parampara respectively. Uttaran is also based on Mira Nair's Kamasutra. The only difference being the poor-rich girls' friendship story has child protagonists. Bidaai is inspired by Shahid Kapoor-Amrita Rao starrer Vivaah. Even Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is said to be inspired by an old Rajshri film.
In the past too Ekta has tried to recreate Bollywood magic with Kahani Teri Meri and Koshish Ek Asha. The former was based on Devdaas, while the latter was a copy of an old Jeetendra film. Even Smriti Irani tried an old formula with Waaris, which was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan's Sarkaar.
NDTV Imagine will soon launch Seeta Aur Geeta which is a remake of Hema Malini's hit film of the same name. A few years ago, B. R. Films had made a daily called Kamini Damini with Sridevi in a double role which was also inspired by Seeta Aur Geeta.
Why do channels which take programming cues from the West for reality shows
get so dependent on Hindi films? "It is happening full-on and it's time such mass copying stopped," says Sandiip Sikcand, creative head for dailies like Maa and Bandini.According to Sandiip, the trend started with the advent of dailies. "As finite stories were turned into never ending soaps, people started running out of ideas. Hence the easiest way out was to lift stories, characters and plots from popular films," he adds.
Shailja Kejriwal, senior creative head of NDTV Imagine, is of the opinion that in a medium of storytelling inspiration comes from any source. "Bollywood borrows from Hollywood and South Indian films. The original source of Ghajini is Memento. An idea can come from anywhere but weaving it into an engaging story needs creativity. In the Indian context, Bollywood is a tried and tested formula of entertainment and a reliable reference point," she says.
According to Sony's creative head (fiction) Sanjay Upadhyay, the modus operandi is simple. He explains, "Either take the core thought from a film and build drama around it or take character/s from a hit film and put it in a different milieu."
Sanjay also blames it on the lack of good writing talent. "Most of the writers lack depth. They source stories and characters from popular films. But it's not their fault solely. Viewers' easily relate to stories and characters they have seen in films," he adds.
Sandiip admits to copying plots and characters. "I have done it. But then I was asked to do it. If you do it correctly it is not difficult to churn out 300 episodes," he says. But the problem, according to him, is that lately it's happening so blatantly that people are feeling cheated and getting alienated.
Sooraj Rao, till recently the creative head of Tujh Sang Preet Lagai Sajna before he quit the show two weeks ago, admits that Bollywood is an obvious reference point for soaps. "But slowly we are heading towards originality. Obviously it will take some time," he says.
source : http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tv-guide/bollywood-rehashed-910
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