Remake Theory

I absolutely loved the Malayalam movie ‘Udhayanaanu Tharam’ by Srinivasan and Mohanlal and hence was eagerly looking forward to Vellithirai – its remake starring Prithviraj and Prakashraj. Was expecting a good movie since remakes in my mind are not the XEROX copies churned out Remake Ravi/Raja family – those guys shamelessly copy the same dresses/camera angles and what not from its original . But going by reviews/public response looks like Vellithirai did not live upto its original. One of the highlights in Malayalam was the subtle comedy/inferiority complex of the Prakashraj character played by Srinivasan (also the screenplay writer). After seeing some of the scenes in TV channels, looks like the Prakashraj character is changed as someone who has superiority complex or high confidence which IMO could be one of the reasons for the movie’s downfall. Am yet to catch the movie – gotto do maybe this weekend.

Another factor is that the Original had wonderful songs. In Tamil, music is by G V Prakash but only Uyirilae and to some extent Sooriyanai was above average. And it looks like Sooriyanai is also a shameless copy from an Australian song – More details at ITWOF site. With his Minnalgal Koothadum from Polladhavan also being a lift, am beginning to wonder if G V Prakash is going the right way. The kid usually comes up with wonderful melodies, would prefer him sticking to Original compositions. With Kuselan another remake from Malayalam with SS Rajini and coincidentally yet another script of Srinivasan coming up, hope he gives a smashing album.