Sati Leelavati - Kodambakkam copies Hollywood ?!
Balaji Thirumalaikumara
Hi:
I still haven't seen Sati Leelavati, so this is a question for
those who have. From what I have read on the net, the story
sounds a lot like the English movie - SHE DEVIL, starring
Rossanne (the fat wife), Meryl Streep (the mistress) and
Ed Begley Jr. (The Husband). Can someone confirm this. I
strongly suspect Kamal and Crazy Mohan to have lifted the plot,
just as they copied 9-TO-5 as Magalir Mattum. This joins
a growing list of Tamil movies inspired by Hollywood.
I can recall so many Kamal movies that have been "inspired"
by Hollywood.
Nammavar - The Principal.
Nayagan/Devar Magan - GodFather.
Indiran Chandiran - Moon Over Parador.
Soorasamharam - Inspired by so many Action movies including The Untouchables
Apoorva Sagodarargal - (Premise inspired by) Twins.
Guna - Loosely based on The Collector and Tie Me up, Tie Me Down.
Magalir Mattum - 9 to 5.
Vikram - Many Bond movies.
Sigappu Rojakkal - Premise from Psycho.
Vetri Vizha - The Bourne Identity.
Ennakul Oruvan - The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.
And other Tamil films that come to mind easily...
May Maadham - Roman Holiday.
My Dear Marthanda - Coming to America.
Anjali - Inspired by ET ??
Tiruda Tiruda - Inspired by Kshanam Kshanam and Run.
Moodu Pani - Psycho.
Chaavi - Dial M For Murder.
Its not just now, its been happening since they started making
tamil movies...
Uttama Putiran - The Man in the Iron mask.
Apoorva Sagodarargal (old version)- The Corsican brothers.
Alayamani - Les Miserabales.
Many JaiShanker movies - From James Bond movies.
There was a Shivaji Movie lifted from To Chase a Crooked Shadow (has
the song - Partha Nyabagam Illaya, forgot the name..)
And many many more... I am sure that others can fill in...
Maybe someone ought to compile a list of such movies...
I wonder what these folks will do if there were stricter copyright laws
and if Hollywood decides to sue them. I know that Hollywood is invading
India big time, so it wont be long before they impose stricter rules.
The same applied for the tunes of songs that have been covniently
Indianized by these folks.
Cheers,
Balaji.
PS: Someone on the net (Dinesh ??) was compiling a list of Kamal movies.
Wonder what became of that ?
---
Balaji ThirumalaiKumara
bthi...@ingr.com
Standard disclaimers apply.
Bharath Modayur
|
|> I can recall so many Kamal movies that have been "inspired"
|> by Hollywood.
character in "To kill a mocking bird".
There are ET and StarWars
inspired song sequences.
The art work (in which you see little
Anjali jumping with hands up) IS A STRAIGHT LIFT from the book
"Mister god this is Anna" by Fynn.
The final fight sequence is
inspired by Lethal Weapon Part I.
bharath
Vaithu Sudarsan
Balaji Thirumalaikumara <bthi...@crescent.edaca.ingr.com> wrote:
>
>Hi:
>
>I still haven't seen Sati Leelavati, so this is a question for
>those who have. From what I have read on the net, the story
>sounds a lot like the English movie - SHE DEVIL, starring
>Rossanne (the fat wife), Meryl Streep (the mistress) and
>Ed Begley Jr. (The Husband). Can someone confirm this. I
>strongly suspect Kamal and Crazy Mohan to have lifted the plot,
>just as they copied 9-TO-5 as Magalir Mattum. This joins
>a growing list of Tamil movies inspired by Hollywood.
Yes, the movie review in THE HINDU International Weekly Edition
also says that it is an ultimate copy of a hollywood movie. So, you may
be right. Also, in Tamil there is already a movie ChinnaVeedu with the
same story and with the same heroine (Kalpana) starring Bhagyaraaj.
>
>I can recall so many Kamal movies that have been "inspired"
>by Hollywood.
>
[long list....]
Oh boy, you are a great movie lover it seems.
>There was a Shivaji Movie lifted from To Chase a Crooked Shadow (has
>the song - Partha Nyabagam Illaya, forgot the name..)
>
>And many many more... I am sure that others can fill in...
>Maybe someone ought to compile a list of such movies...
anru peitha mazhaiyil--- Fatal attraction
cheers
nanban
sudarsan
R. Parthasarathy
>
>
[Interesting stuff delleted..]
>Nammavar - The Principal.
>Nayagan/Devar Magan - GodFather.
>Indiran Chandiran - Moon Over Parador.
>Soorasamharam - Inspired by so many Action movies including The Untouchables
>Apoorva Sagodarargal - (Premise inspired by) Twins.
>Guna - Loosely based on The Collector and Tie Me up, Tie Me Down.
>Magalir Mattum - 9 to 5.
>Vikram - Many Bond movies.
>Sigappu Rojakkal - Premise from Psycho.
>Vetri Vizha - The Bourne Identity.
>Ennakul Oruvan - The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.
>
How about Raja Parvai? It was copied from Butterflies are free to
a large extent.
I don't blame Kamal alone on this. Sometimes I appreciate the
way these guys adjust the storyline to fit the local traditions.
This makes up for the cultural differences between the makers
of the original and the copiers. I saw Balu Mahendra's Marupadiyum
which was a frame to frame copy of the Hindi movie "arth".
The Hollywood guys are no angels either. The famous movie
Three Men and a Baby was lifted scene to scene from a french
version. But they had Americanized it so well that one would not
suspect. The movie dirty dozen or five man army was copied from
a Japanese version called the Seventh Samurai. Some scenes from
Indian Jones movies are copied from other sources. I am not
able to come up with examples for this.
>And other Tamil films that come to mind easily...
>
>May Maadham - Roman Holiday.
>My Dear Marthanda - Coming to America.
>Anjali - Inspired by ET ??
>Tiruda Tiruda - Inspired by Kshanam Kshanam and Run.
>Moodu Pani - Psycho.
>Chaavi - Dial M For Murder.
>
>Its not just now, its been happening since they started making
>tamil movies...
>
>Uttama Putiran - The Man in the Iron mask.
>Apoorva Sagodarargal (old version)- The Corsican brothers.
>Alayamani - Les Miserabales.
>Many JaiShanker movies - From James Bond movies.
>There was a Shivaji Movie lifted from To Chase a Crooked Shadow (has
>the song - Partha Nyabagam Illaya, forgot the name..)
It was puthiya paRavai.
MGR's style was totally based on Erol Flyne. Watch one of Flyne's
movies and then recall MGR's sword fight scenes and the costumes
that he wore.
>
>
>And many many more... I am sure that others can fill in...
>Maybe someone ought to compile a list of such movies...
>I wonder what these folks will do if there were stricter copyright laws
>and if Hollywood decides to sue them. I know that Hollywood is invading
>India big time, so it wont be long before they impose stricter rules.
>The same applied for the tunes of songs that have been covniently
>Indianized by these folks.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Balaji.
>
I don't see anything wrong with adapting a theme from one source to
the local taste. This way it helps compare the acting talents of
different actors in different languages, for the same set of
conditions. Actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand etc..
could be compared with Sivaji Ganesan because of frame-frame copying
from Tamil to Hindi or vice versa. There one could see the uniqueness
of Sivaji or his over-acting in certain scenes when his Hindi
counterpart did just what was needed.
There was a Tamil movie called moonRezhththu (three letters) with
Ravi Chandran as the hero. After many years, this was made into
a Hindi version titled "Don" with Amitabh in it. This was not
a frame-frame copy. They just took the theme. Then Balaji remade
it again in Tamil under the title Billa (Rajanikanth).
The Hindi movie Bombay to Goa was a direct copy of Tamil "Madras
to Pondicherry".
I remember when Yadon ki bArAth hit the screens. They made it in
Tamil with MGR (nAlai namathe). MGR took all the key roles in it
through double acting. The Telugu scene became hilarious. Two
producers began to make the same story in Telgu. Midway through
they realized that they were making the same movies. So they
went to the court. One was called "rakta sammandAlu" while the
other was called "aNNa thammulu anubhandam". They settled out
of court later. The singer part (youngest brother) was changed to
a female role in one movie. Also they changed the ending of one
of the movies.
Then there was Victoria 203 in Hindi based on an American novel.
It was a big hit. They made it in Tamil as vairam, followed by
a Telugu and a Malayalam versions.
Some of the famous Jai shankar movies were remakes of Hindi hits.
A music director named vedha lifted even the songs directly from
these movies (eg. vallavanukku vallavan, yAr nee).
I used to compile a list of movies copied from one language to
another and the songs copied. I used to have a tape where the
Hindi version and Tamil versions played one after the other.
Unfortunately I don't have it with me now.
When I was at Sivakasi, I ended up seeing a Tamil movie called
Raja (Sivaji Ganesan) and the following day, I went to a movie
called Johny mera nAm, without knowing that they were frame-frame
copies. But in a way it was advantageous, because I knew what was
going on in the Hindi movie.
I remember a joke in a Tamil movie. Cho and Manorama will come to
Madras. The dialogue goes like this:
M: ennanga, puthu James Bond padam vanthirukkuthunga. nAma oorukkup
povaRaththukku munnAla, athap pAththuttup pOgalAmA?
(Dear, there is a new James Bond movie in town. Before we return
to our place, can we go and see it?)
Cho: innum ARu mAsaththile, ithuve thamizhla varum. appa pArththukkalAm.
arthamAvathu puriyum.
(in about six months time, this istelf will come in Tamizh. Then
we can see it. At least we'll understand it).
Partha sarathy
Balaji Thirumalaikumara
>>In article <3grp3p$l...@dazixca.edaca.ingr.com>, bthi...@crescent.edaca.ingr.com (Balaji Thirumalaikumara) writes:
>>|
>>|> I can recall so many Kamal movies that have been "inspired"
>>|> by Hollywood.
>>
>>|> Anjali - Inspired by ET ??
What I meant was the underlying theme, not direct lifts. In ET, an alien
is at first viewed with fear,anger and disregard, but later the Kids
get to like it and are very sad when it has to leave. Since India cannot
afford ET-esque Makeup/Special effects and the concept of an Alien is not
easily accepted/understood, Mani Rathnam chose to replace the Alien with
the Kid (whose mental condition would evoke more response than the Alien's
plight ?). The Kids loathe Anjali initially and later love her and are
very sad when she dies! Manirathnam finally got to make ET, only then
he chose to call it Edayathai Thirudade! (E.T.):-) (Peace!).
>>
>>The art work (in which you see little
>>Anjali jumping with hands up) IS A STRAIGHT LIFT from the book
>>"Mister god this is Anna" by Fynn.
>>
>>The final fight sequence is
>>inspired by Lethal Weapon Part I.
The artwork/sets for the songs - Vegam, Vegam and Starwars songs is lifted
from a book from George Lucas's "Industrial Lights and Magic ". The book is
about how they design the sets for movies etc. The scene where Raghuvaran,Revathi
and the Kids are all tied up on top of a cliff is exactly same as a scene in
Star Trek-3, The Search for Spock. Also the Planet exploding etc. are all
dirctly lifted from Star Wars.
Anjali in my opinion would have made an excellent half hour episode of the
serial Penn. By making this into a movie, Rathnam faltered and had to rely on
Illayaraja and all his gimmicry to make something out of it. Anjali, in
my opinion was a disappointing movie. The first half has no bearing on the
story.
Well, Mani Rathnam's early movies were excellent and bore very little
Hollywood influence - Pallavi, Anu Pallavi to Mouna Ragam. In Nayagan,
he copied GodFather. The influence of GodFather did not stop there. In Agni,
he uses the same concept of changing the rooms in the Hospital (climax).
This also appears in Godfather (Sonny senses trouble and changes Don Vito
Corleone's room), sans the fireworks. Then in Thiruda Thiruda, he has copied
many English movies - there is the famous Indian Jones -cliff joke replayed
in the fire scene. The plot is similar to RUN. It also has the theme of
a Road-Buddy movie, which is very popular here. When a director like
Manirathnam copies Hollywood, can the rest of Kodambakkam be far behind.
Evry Tamil cinema now-a-days has some thing or the other copied from
Hollywood. Is this a good thing or bad, remains to be seen. I am surprised
that China can make excellent movies like - Farewell My Concubine though they
suffer from the same problems that we have (facilities,budgets etc). Whats
wrong with Indian cinema ?
Balaji.
--
Dev Mannemela
>.. [stuff deleted]
>Anjali in my opinion would have made an excellent half hour episode of the
>serial Penn. By making this into a movie, Rathnam faltered and had to rely on
>Illayaraja and all his gimmicry to make something out of it. Anjali, in
>my opinion was a disappointing movie. The first half has no bearing on the
>story.
Yup. He had to stretch and expand the thin story line to fill
up the mandatory two and half hours. All those kiddi songs, sub-plot
of the lovers were all pure fillers..
What was the last ManiRatnam movie that was satisfying? I mean
satisfying. Yeah, I like the music in his movies, techincal wizardry etc..
But...
Thiruda Tiruda?? Nope.
Roja! Nah. It had "Mouna Raagam" written all over it.
Dalapathi was a BAD movie.
Anjali - nice subject, but .. [see above :-)]
Agni Nakshatram was a good entertainer... I liked it!!
I liked Gitanjali too and all the movies before them..
But they were so long back..
Let's wait for Bombay...
/dev
--
Dev Mannemela de...@spimageworks.com
Sony Pictures Imageworks (310) 641-1614 (O)
Nandini Venkatramani
>What was the last ManiRatnam movie that was satisfying? I mean
>satisfying. Yeah, I like the music in his movies, techincal wizardry etc..
>But...
entertainer. I believe there is no doubt about it.
And he has maintained it all along. Also 'SATISFYING' becomes a highly
personal,opinion based evaluation. If Anjali was satisfying to o
one, it may not be to another.
I love his movies as it keeps me entertained for 2-3 hrs. Agni, Thiruda, I T
all fall in the same category.
Shiva Shivakumar
[ Discussion about ManiRathnam movies deleted ... ]
>that China can make excellent movies like - Farewell My Concubine though they
>suffer from the same problems that we have (facilities,budgets etc). Whats
>wrong with Indian cinema ?
Change Indian to Tamil and you have a valid question.
Our neighbours (Kannada and Malayalam) have produced excellent movies
(honestly, I haven't seen any; I am strictly bilingual (in true Dravidian
spirit ! :-))
IMHO, only KB was consistently making/attempting decent movies ...
regards
Jagadisan Shivakumar
Kathiravan Krishnamurthi
: [ Discussion about ManiRathnam movies deleted ... ]
: >that China can make excellent movies like - Farewell My Concubine though they
: >suffer from the same problems that we have (facilities,budgets etc). Whats
: >wrong with Indian cinema ?
: Change Indian to Tamil and you have a valid question.
: Our neighbours (Kannada and Malayalam) have produced excellent movies
: (honestly, I haven't seen any; I am strictly bilingual (in true Dravidian
: spirit ! :-))
: IMHO, only KB was consistently making/attempting decent movies ...
What about the guy who made muthal mariyaathai,
vEtham puthithu, kizhakku seemaiyilE and karuththammaa.
anban
Kathir
: regards
: Jagadisan Shivakumar
: >
S.Jagadish ....... I think .... Therefore I am
> satisfying. Yeah, I like the music in his movies, techincal wizardry etc..
What No Nayagan ??
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The opinions expressed above are mine alone ... Any infringement of copyrights
will be severely dealt with :-)
S.Jagadish
Computer Engineering Year 2
UnderGrad Scholarship holder from India
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Die hard Kamal Hassan visiri ... from Kalatthur Kannama to Sathi Leelavathi !!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~