More and more TV serials are lifting scenes and sequences from old and new Hollywood and Bollywood movies to spice up their fare. Be it Bade Achhe lagte Hain’s Sammy doing a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai scene or Simar taking off from Murder 3 or Khoon Bhari Maang getting recreated in Main Na Bhoolungi, you can see an adaptation of these blockbusters in many ongoing serials, says Sangeeta Yadav
Remember Naseeruddin Shah making conversation with his wife from his photo frame in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane NaIJ The same funny note has been added to Big Magic’s Nadaniyaan where Alok Nath, who plays the deceased father of Nandu and Pappu, comes alive in his frame and is avidly conversing with his son.
Not just that, the scary secret room of Murder 3 where Aditi Rao Hydari gets trapped and from where she can see everyone from behind the mirror but no one can spot her had recently been brought in the Bharadwaj house of Sasural Simar Ka. The entire family, except Simar and Roli, gets locked in this secret chamber to helplessly witness Simar and Roli toeing the line of the vamp Meghna Singhania to get to their missing family.
Call it a dry phase of creatives in the small soap dish, or the need to spice up the fare with some known blockbuster scenes or sequences, TV directors are no longer shy of lifting the movie moments for their serials, howsoever evident they might be to the audiences.
“There have been shows where a situation has been inspired from a movie. While watching a TV show, you may find a sequence, a dialogue or the look of a character similar to a movie. Everybody prefers their plot to be original but in a situation where one has to stretch the show for three years and make it more interesting, writers weave in an episode that has been inspired from the movies, twist them with their convenience and try to create a gripping episode. There is so much pressure in this industry, to create a sequence in a day, get an approval and send it for shoot. They have to come to terms with practicality. They have to deliver work on time, no matter what,” Shikha Singh aka Meghna Singhania of Sasuraal Simar Ka, tells you.
She also tells you that every show has three or four creative writers who have to brainstorm daily on how they can make the show more interesting. “To get quick results and working under pressurising circumstances, the writer’s creative instinct takes a toll,” Singh says who is now busy shooting for Adalat and Mahabharat.
Take the case of AXN’s The Vampire Diaries which introduced the concept of doppelganger (mirror image of the person) where Katherine’s look-a-like Elena Gilbert is introduced. A similar situation was seen in Adaalat a few weeks back where Nandita was accused of her ex-boyfriend Deepak’s murder. But the murders were committed by one person who was posing as a doppelganger. The mystery was, of course, later unravelled by KD.
“We had to incorporate the same being fully aware that the situation has been copied from an English serial. We have to do what we are told. We don’t have any say in this. But it’s a fact that original is much better than copied,” Singh adds.
The trend of taking scenes from the movies is also evident in the situational comedy (sitcoms) as well. In life OK’s Hum Ne li Hai Shapath...Super Cops vs Super Villain, a lot of villains have been inspired by popular Hollywood and Bollywood movies like Spiderman, Batman, The Sleeping Beauty, Gulliver’s Travels, Vikram Betal etc. Even the lead character of the show lara (Iris Maity) has taken inspiration from Angelina Jolie’s iconic character lara Croft from the movie Tomb Raider 3. Both wear similar outfits and use modern-day weapons. The cop in the show played by Sarwar Ahuja is inspired by the Hollywood movie RoboCop. Ahuja wears a suit made of steel fitted with many gadgets.
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai took a scene from the movie Chennai Express where SRK picks up Deepika Padukone and walks 800 steps to the Kuldevi’s temple in Wai. Naitik does the same with Akshara.
While some soaps just pick up a few scenes here and there, Main Naa Bhoolungi’s current track resembles Khoon Bhari Maang. The protagonist Shikha (Aishwarya Sakhuja) glams herself up just like Rekha did in the movie to take revenge.
“Many people are saying that the track of Main Naa Bhoolungi reminds them of Khoon Bhari Maang. They draw comparison and give their opinion. It’s not a take from the movie. For me, it’s the story of many other women like Shikha who have been betrayed and killed by their husbands. We get to read a lot of cases like this in the newspapers. But very few gather strength to fight for their rights. That’s the message that we want to send across to our viewers,” Sakhuja says.
Bade Achhe lagte Hain (BAlH) too had a Bollywood theme party recently where Khush donned the look of Ranbir Kapoor’s look in Rockstar. If this was not enough copy from Bollywood, Suhani (Ekta Kaul), Sammy (Yuvraj Yhakur) and Pihu (Sonia Balani) enacted a scene from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai where SRK holds Tina’s hand as he consoles Anjali in his arms.
“It’s always good to pick up and adapt something which has already succeeded, you mininise the risk. Maybe someone really believes in the idea and adapts it in a soap. Books have been adapted into movies, and TV shows for decades. This doesn’t mean that there is paucity of ideas. it is just carrying an idea or concept from one medium to another. India is a dynamic and talented nation of storytellers on every medium,” Anil Wanvari, founcer and CEO of Indiantelevision.com says.