Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (India, 2007)
aka Ram Gopal Varma's Fire
This is a remake of a classic 70's Bollywood film, probably the most famous and oft-referenced film in India (The original was called Sholay but the name of the remake and the major characters were changed due to copy right stuff. Sholay also had the longest run and biggest box office, i think.) So remaking it was definitely a risky move. It's about two friends, basically happy drifters, who run up against the law, and worse, a totally amoral bandit who's terrorizing a village. The original was called a curry western, cause the action sequences and premise were borrowed from classic westerns (western westerns, that is) but it had a great script and memorable songs (and how many westerns had that... well, there was that Elvis western with Love Me Tender...)
Anyway, i won't keep you in suspense any long, it was a huge crushing disaster, and i wasn't the only one disappointed, the reviewer in The Hindustani Times called it the worst movie ever. It was really poorly miscast, the characters weren't particularly likeable (perhaps as a result), and there was a weird fixation on ass-shots (the crotch-shot wasn't totally neglected either) that culminated in a particularly porn-like musical number. In some films that might not be that bad, but it never works well in Indian movies. It's kinda like the Japanese anime-porn with no nipples... you can't really have people kissing in a Bollywood movie, so somehow all the writhing around in drenched white clothing feels much, much dirtier without the smooching, which would be considered pretty innocent in an American movie.
One thing in the movie i couldn't quite make mind up about was the pretentiously philosophical sequences involving the bad guy (played by Amitabh Bachchan, who played one of the heroes in the original.) Lots of extended sequences of him musing on mortality and love ("Don't they know that even Babban can't trust Babban's words?" [the bad guy's name is "Babban."]) I think he's a pretty excellent actor, so it was sorta amusing, and he and the supporting goondas (bad guys) looked really grungy, so that was pretty impressive too.
Anyway, unless you're a Sholay fanatic and you've just gotta see this give it a pass. Even the music sequences are weak and poorly integrated into the movie... and they omitted the best song from the Sholay! Instead of this one, go see Chak De India! the field hockey movie, it's great!
This is a remake of a classic 70's Bollywood film, probably the most famous and oft-referenced film in India (The original was called Sholay but the name of the remake and the major characters were changed due to copy right stuff. Sholay also had the longest run and biggest box office, i think.) So remaking it was definitely a risky move. It's about two friends, basically happy drifters, who run up against the law, and worse, a totally amoral bandit who's terrorizing a village. The original was called a curry western, cause the action sequences and premise were borrowed from classic westerns (western westerns, that is) but it had a great script and memorable songs (and how many westerns had that... well, there was that Elvis western with Love Me Tender...)
Anyway, i won't keep you in suspense any long, it was a huge crushing disaster, and i wasn't the only one disappointed, the reviewer in The Hindustani Times called it the worst movie ever. It was really poorly miscast, the characters weren't particularly likeable (perhaps as a result), and there was a weird fixation on ass-shots (the crotch-shot wasn't totally neglected either) that culminated in a particularly porn-like musical number. In some films that might not be that bad, but it never works well in Indian movies. It's kinda like the Japanese anime-porn with no nipples... you can't really have people kissing in a Bollywood movie, so somehow all the writhing around in drenched white clothing feels much, much dirtier without the smooching, which would be considered pretty innocent in an American movie.
One thing in the movie i couldn't quite make mind up about was the pretentiously philosophical sequences involving the bad guy (played by Amitabh Bachchan, who played one of the heroes in the original.) Lots of extended sequences of him musing on mortality and love ("Don't they know that even Babban can't trust Babban's words?" [the bad guy's name is "Babban."]) I think he's a pretty excellent actor, so it was sorta amusing, and he and the supporting goondas (bad guys) looked really grungy, so that was pretty impressive too.
Anyway, unless you're a Sholay fanatic and you've just gotta see this give it a pass. Even the music sequences are weak and poorly integrated into the movie... and they omitted the best song from the Sholay! Instead of this one, go see Chak De India! the field hockey movie, it's great!
posted by Chris @ 5:42 PM
1 Comments:
At 12:53 PM,
meshugah said…
"High Noon" has an amazing theme song. Although it's more of a noir than a western, despite the stetsons everyone's wearing.
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