Bro, Bholaa Shankar, Ustaad Bhagat Singh, Bro Daddy: Decoding Telugu cinema’s fascination for remakes

While producers down South preferred multilinguals for a major part of 1940s and early 1950s to save production costs and expenditure, remakes were a trend that truly took off in Telugu cinema in the latter half of the decade. No one could debate the idea behind it. It banked on an already successful formula; all the producer had to do was to rope in a capable cast, crew that wouldn’t destroy the essence of the original and stay true to the Telugu milieu.

Over the decades, remakes have become a profitable proposition for producers across industries. After all, what’s wrong about retelling a good universal story to audiences across multiple regions? They are a readymade recipe for producers to make good money and audiences want to be entertained, regardless of watching an original or a remake. However, in Telugu industry, where there’s immense demand to churn out films quickly, original scripts gradually took a backseat.

From the days of NTR, ANR to Pawan Kalyan, Chiranjeevi, stars tasted the biggest hits in their careers with remakes - Raktha Sambandham, Manchi Manasulu, Pelli Kanuka, Kushi, Tagore. Venkatesh’s career-changing films were remakes, be it Chanti, Raja, Suryavamsam, Sankranthi, Sundarakanda, Gharshana and the Drushyam franchise to name a few. Even Mohan Babu’s biggest hits - Alludugaru, Assembly Rowdy, Peda Rayudu - were remakes.

There’s no doubt that the scenario has changed drastically in the post COVID-19 era. Thanks to the OTT access, where audiences are very much exposed to content across languages, producers across industries are thinking twice about acquiring remake rights and preferring newer scripts. The results of remakes like Vakeel Saab, Jaanu, Bheemla Nayak, Butta Bomma, Drushyam 2, Gurthunda Seethakalam, Godfather, Saakini Daakini, Shekar speak for themselves.

Despite the discouraging trend, Telugu stars Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan, Nagarjuna are confident that the failures of a few films can’t signal the death of the remake trend. Bro, a reimagined version of Samuthirakani’s Vinodhaya Sitham, starring Pawan Kalyan and Sai Dharam Tej, couldn’t woo audiences to theatres in big numbers despite the fan-friendly packaging and a purposeful story.

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Chiranjeevi’s Bholaa Shankar, to hit screens next week, lands in theatres 8 years after its original Vedalam. The actioner may not boast a new plot, though it has all the ingredients of a fan-pleasing vehicle - brother-sister sentiment, comedy, action. However, the stale trailer of Bholaa Shankar suggests that the formula has more or less reached its expiry date. The only positive here - Vedalam isn't available to stream on any OTT platform.

There were a lot of concerns about Harish Shankar’s Theri remake with Pawan Kalyan titled Ustaad Bhagat Singh, but the compelling teaser has shut down all such apprehensions. Time and again, the director and the screenplay writer Dasaradh have maintained that only the core premise of the original has been retained and promised a complete makeover for the Telugu version.

Also read: Bro Twitter review: Pawan Kalyan’s show all the way with a superb climax, netizens say 

Going by reports, Nagarjuna has expressed his readiness to act in the Telugu remake of Porinju Mariam Jose, to be directed by Prasanna Kumar Bezawada. Rajashekar’s action film Monster is believed to be a remake of a Tamil film. Chiranjeevi has also given his nod to be a part of Malayalam hit Bro Daddy’s remake to be helmed by Bangarraju filmmaker Kalyan Krishna. It’s his fourth remake in the recent years, after Khaidi No 150, Godfather and Bholaa Shankar.

Given the stars involved in the projects, huge money is riding on them and their box office fate will certainly have an impact on the trend in the coming years. It has become imperative to excite audiences to come to theatres and the thought that a certain release is a remake of a film that’s already available on OTT has dampened the interest of a section of movie goers.