Bollywood adaptations of Western novels and films – case studies
Sholay
The ultimate Bollywood epic, it drew heavily on the 1960 western The Magnificent Seven, itself a remake of the Japanese classic Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai). Billed as “The Greatest Story Ever Told” it managed to live up to its own hype by becoming a box-office phenomenon and India’s highest-grossing film of all time, earning the equivalent of US$60 million. Initially a commercial flop, word-of-mouth drove cinema-goers back to enjoy this tale of lawless bandits and small time-convicts, making it the biggest hit of Indian cinema to date, with many cinemas playing the film for several years.
Bride and Prejudice
Directed by Gurinder Chadha, the writer/director of Bend It Like Beckham, this was a successful Bollywood-style adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, filmed primarily using English dialogue. Starring supposedly India’s most beautiful woman Aishwarya Rai and Lost’s Naveen Andrews, the 2004 release received mixed reviews, with many critics claiming that although it was a valiant attempt to introduce Bollywood to the Western masses, it was a poor interpretation of the novel and the lead performances lacking in chemistry.
Black
Selected by Time Magazine (Europe) as fifth of the “10 Best Movies of the Year 2005”, this Hindi movie was partly based on Arthur Penn’s 1962 biographical film of Helen Keller, The Miracle Worker. Starring “The Big B” himself, India’s most-loved and prolific actor Amitabh Bachchan, the film won critical acclaim and broke records by winning eleven awards at the Hindi equivalent of the Oscars, the Filmfare Awards.
