Nikhil Nagesh Bhatt’s bloody thriller Kill will soon be adapted into a Hollywood film by the makers of John Wick. It is not the first Bollywood film to inspire the West. However, most Hindi films that have done so have not been officially adapted but have instead lent their plots to Hollywood films. (Also read: John Wick makers developing English remake of Dharma Productions’ Kill, say they have ‘bigger roles to play’)
Drishyam
Panaroma Studios recently announced that Jeethu Joseph’s 2013 Malayalam crime thriller starring Mohanlal will be the first Indian film to be officially adapted into an English remake. The film, starring Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Shriya Saran, has already been adapted in Hindi. It has also got a sequel in both Hindi and Malayalam.
fear – fright
Yash Chopra’s 1993 romantic thriller Darr, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, had a similar plot in James Foley’s 1996 Hollywood film Fear, which borrows its title from the Bollywood film. In this film too, Mark Wahlberg’s stalker character wrote ‘Nicole’ on his chest with a piece of glass, just like Shah Rukh wrote his girlfriend Kiran’s name on his chest. Reese Witherspoon played Nicole in Fear.
A Wednesday – A Common Man
Neeraj Pandey’s 2008 thriller pitted Naseeruddin Shah’s anonymous ‘aam aadmi’ against Anupam Kher’s Mumbai police chief. In 2013, Sri Lankan filmmaker Chandran Ratnam made a similar film in English, with British actor Ben Kingsley playing the eponymous aam aadmi.
Small Talk – Hitch
Basu Chatterjee’s 1976 romance film, starring Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha and Ashok Kumar, is believed to have inspired the concept of Andy Tennant’s 2005 Hollywood film Hitch, starring Will Smith in the lead role. Both the films revolve around a shy man who is not determined to approach the woman he likes but is trained by a love guru to do so.
Leap Year – Jab We Met
Like Imtiaz Ali’s 2007 blockbuster film, starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor in the lead roles, Anand Tucker’s 2010 romantic comedy Leap Year, starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, is based on the journey of a woman who goes to tell a man that she loves him but faces many obstacles, including having feelings for another man who is trying to unite them.
