Vikram Vedha: Remakes, Nepotism, and Review

The movie Vikram Vedha (Hindi), a remake of Vikram Vedha (Tamil), stars Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan, both of whom are products of nepotism.

REMAKES

What, one more remake? Why!

Why not if a producer believes a remake offers an attractive risk-return proposition?

Let the audience decide whether the remake was worthwhile. Critics, trade analysts, and cinephiles can have their say too.

Most movie critics are cinema snobs, probably predisposed to trash remakes. But a well-crafted remake can floor the snobbiest critic.

Just this year, four of the ten Oscar nominees for Best Picture were remakes, including the winner, CODA. This recognition follows the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars in 2007 for The Departed, a remake.

Some trade analysts contend that Bollywood lacks the creative chops to grapple with the proliferation of OTT platforms and fast-evolving consumer preferences. Amidst these structural challenges, there is talk that remakes are contributing to Bollywood’s creative bankruptcy.

The remake tradition between Bollywood and regional Indian cinema is bidirectional and has occurred for ages, so remakes might, at best, only marginally explain Bollywood’s current woes.

Many diehard cinephiles are upset by potential remakes. Perhaps they are concerned that with the benefit of hindsight and advances in filmmaking, remakes will obliterate their beloved originals.

Worry not. There are intangibles of films that are difficult to replicate—compare the 1955 and 2002 Hindi versions of Devdas and the 1978 and 2006 Hindi versions of Don to see what I mean.

Remakes bring originals to a younger generation and extend originals from one cultural milieu to another and from one technological era to another.

Unlike critics, analysts, and cinephiles, the average moviegoer is primarily interested in entertainment.

If the remake will entertain me, bring it on. No wonder the list of commercially successful remakes is long. Two of the top five Hindi blockbusters [Mother India (1957) and Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!(1994)] are remakes.

Let the film industry produce remakes, reboots, sequels, and whatever. And let the free market dictate what films to make or not make.

NEPOTISM

Most Indian film production houses are family businesses, which, by definition, are nepotistic. Not surprisingly, the Indian film industry is a hotbed of nepotism.

One consolation is that nepotism is rampant in casting and is relatively less, per my estimation, in other areas of filmmaking.

While nepotism sometimes has benefits, it stifles competition in the market for human skills and breeds incompetence.

Nepotism is probably less damaging if mostly restricted to casting. Excellent actors sometimes elevate movies with their performances, but the movies should have the potential for elevation in the first place.

Most commercial Indian movies hardly require and provide scope for actors to act, especially female actors. As a result, producers have probably not experienced any negative impact of engaging in nepotism. So, from the supply side, nepotism is not problematic.

From the demand side, too, nepotism is not problematic in a nepotistic society where film patrons celebrate nepotism and eagerly await the movie debut of the next star kid.

Thus, it is unsurprising that the free market does not seem to penalize nepotism in the Indian film industry.

There is hope, though. The needle is slowly moving on nepotism.

There is growing resentment against nepotism in politics driven by the realization among many of the damage caused by India’s decades-long dynastic political rule. This resentment will gradually spread to other spheres.

A nascent movement to shun nepotism in the Indian film industry is emerging on social media.

REVIEW

Vikram Vedha draws its plot structure from Betaal Pachisi, in which different stories have the same template, a template Vikram Vedha employs too.

Whenever gangster Vedha is in the captivity of cop Vikram, Vedha narrates a story that ends with a philosophical question, and when Vikram answers correctly, Vedha escapes.

The writer-director duo of Pushkar-Gayatri, some crew members, and the title are unchanged between the original and the remake. Accordingly, the remake is not very different.

The availability of a dubbed Hindi version and the original version with subtitles online must have motivated the makers to create a worthy remake, which they have done.

The movie has three layers. The plot revolves around gangsters and cops—they are the setting for mind games, violent encounters, and intrigue. The familial relationships of the gangsters and cops provide emotional content. The third layer is the philosophical questions about the difference between right and wrong that arise from the subplots. Thus, there is something for action lovers, emotional sensitives, and cerebral types.

The movie is uniformly well crafted. The screenplay is taut, the action is slick, and the background music is terrific.  Both halves are engaging.

Performances are excellent. Hrithik Roshan brings maniacal energy and swag to his character and plays to the critics and the gallery. Saif Ali Khan does a great job. His composed character complements Hrithik Roshan’s edgy character.

The director duo never loses control over the film. It helps they have written the film and are remaking it. On the flip side, their extensive involvement in making this movie makes it difficult for them to edit the film ruthlessly.

While the film probably caters to the mass audience, it lacks a romantic track, which will be a big dampener for some. The violence-drenched nonstop action might be too intense for some.

The nonlinear narrative requires you to assemble different parts of the film to form a linear narrative in your mind, so the movie does not make for lazy watching. The songs add no value.

Overall, Vikram Vedha is a well-made, engrossing movie. I recommend it (caveat: I am a sucker for Bollywood movies).

Vikram Vedha shows that remakes can be worthwhile.

NOTES

Hrithik Roshan is one of the top two Bollywood male stars who arrived in the last two decades. Saif Ali Khan started as a complete misfit but has since become a reliable actor and the actor of choice to play the second lead.

Both Hrithik and Saif are products of nepotism. Sans nepotism, we could have two actors even better than them or two more equally capable actors.

It is now too late to complain that Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan are products of nepotism. The time to resent was when they started. In the future, we can be less accepting and celebratory of nepotism in the Indian film industry as and when it occurs.