Bollywood is often accused of stealing ideas from the International Cinema , especially Hollywood . But do you know that Indian Cinema too lends ‘inspiration’ to Hollywood cinema ? Yes! It does happen the other way round as well . Don’t believe us? Keep reading..
A Common Man (2013) – A Wednesday (2008)
Oscar Award winner Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross starrer , ‘A Common Man’ is a 2013 thriller film directed by Sri Lankan film maker , Chandran Rutnam . Not many know that film is an official remake of the Indian thriller , Neeraj Pandey’s ‘A Wednesday!’ starring Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah . Though filmmaker Chandran Rutnam re-worked the screenplay of his suspense thriller remake . Surprisingly , it didn’t win the acclaim that the original won . Nevertheless the movie won the best actor for Ben Kingsley and best film awards in the Madrid Film Festival .
Pearl Harbor (2001) – Sangam (1964)
Set on the war torn background of attack on pearl harbor , Michael Bay’s ‘Pearl Harbor’ starring Ben Affleck , Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett is a 2001 oscar nominated romantic movie . The movie was condemned heavily as it hardly dealt with the incident of Pearl Harbor and was more about about a romantic love triangle between two best friends and their girl friend . The movie was largely inspired from Raj Kapoor’s classic Sangam starring Raj Kapoor with Vyjanthimala and Rajendra Kumar . Sangam , Raj Kapoor’s first colour film is considered the best work of Raj Kapoor . Contrary to Pearl Habor , Sangam became a hit in India and is considered a classic even today . The only difference between two movies is that in Pearl Habor , both leading men were in Air Force while in Sangam only Raj Kapoor was. It has also been remade in Telugu and Kannada languages as Swapna .
Leap Year (2010) – Jab We Met (2007)
Though the makers of the 2010 film , ‘Leap Year’ have denied that their film is inspired by Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Meet , we urge you to watch Anand Tucker directorial ‘Leap Year’ starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode and decide it yourself . Jab We Met was the story of Geet (played by Kareena Kapoor) and her quest to unite with her boyfriend Anshuman for which she goes out of the way but ultimately end up with Aditya Kashyap ( Shahid Kapoor) who helps her in her journey . Both the movies , Jab We Met and Leap Year have a lot of similarities , some of them are :
Vivacious , over-bubbly and silly at times female lead
Both the heroines leave everything to meet their boyfriends and propose them
Heroine meets out of luck , melancholic male lead
The way hero and heroine end up together
Film director , Imtiaz Ali looked happy about the remake and was heard saying , “I have heard that Leap Year takes inspiration from my film. I am happy and don’t want to get into things such as copyright or plagiarism. It feels good to know that Hollywood films can also take elements from us.”
Fear (1996) – Darr (1993)
Yash Chopra’s ‘Darr’ starring Shahrukh Khan , Juhi Chawla and Sunny Deol released in 1993 was one of the biggest gamble SRK ever played where he donned the role of an obsessive stalker-lover in this violent thriller romance . The movie was a huge his and almost all of the credit went to SRK for playing the villain to T . Though , James Foley’s ‘Fear’ , 1996 American thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Amy Brenneman and Alyssa Milano is loosely based on Darr , the story line did differ . One of the biggest difference between Darr and Fear is that the stalker becomes the boyfriend in the latter , whereas in Darr the poor lunatic stalker (Shahrukh) doesn’t get a chance with the heroine . Fear too has the iconic scene shown in Darr , that it , anatagonist carving the name of the heroine on his chest . Remember K-K-K-Kiran ?
Kill Bill (2003) – Abhay (2001)
Though the plot of the two films , Kamal Hassan starrer ‘Abhay’ and Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ differs, the latter had an infamous action sequences which Tarantino himself told Anurag Kashyap in a private conversation was inspired by the Kamal Hassan-starrer Abhay . Interestingly , Abhay was a remake of a Tamil film , Aalavanthan starring Kamal Hassan only . Abhay stars Raveena Tandon and Manisha Koirala with Kamal Hassan.
Ladies V/s Ricky Bahl (2011) – The Other Woman ( 2014)
Maneesh Sharma’s directorial , ‘Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl’ (2011) starring Ranveer Singh as a conman with Anushka Sharma , Parineeti Chopra , Aditi Sharma and Dipannita Sharma offered serious inspiration to Game of Throne’s actor , Nikolaj-Coster Waldau and Cameron Diaz starrer ‘The Other Woman’ in 2014 . Both the movies deal with the story of a young man who has a string of affairs with different women at the same time and when the women discover his infidelity , the man is granted thunderbolt of his life .
Delivery Man (2013) – Vicky Donor (2012)
‘Delivery Man’ is a 2013 American comedy-drama film directed by Ken Scott starring Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, and Cobie Smulders loosely based on Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Vicky Donor’ starring Ayushmann Khurana and Yami Gautam in lead. In both the movies lead actors are seen donating their sperms for money and giving birth to a lot of children , the number however differs , 533 in Delivery Man to 53 in Vicky Donor . Nevertheless , the basic theme of the film, sperm donationis exactly same in both of the films .
Hitch (2005) – Chhoti Si Baat (1975)
Andy Tennant’s directorial ‘Hitch’ , a 2005 romantic comedy film starring Will Smith is said to be the movie that lent inspiration to Salman Khan and Govinda starrer Partner in 2007 . But not many know that ‘Hitch’ itself was hugely inspired by Basu Chatterji’s Chhoti Si Baat , an Indian Classic starring Amol Palekar and Vidya Sinha . The story of all of the three movies is about a man who fails to seek the hand a girl , takes help from a man who makes helping lovelorn people his profession .
Just Go With It (2011) – Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (2005)
David Dhawan’s Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya! (2005) And Dennis Dugan’s Just Go With It (2011) have a lot in common.
Let me make it easy for you . Both have a story of a hero convincing his girlfriend that he is married and then asks his secretory to act like his wife temporarily and eventually ends up with her.
And , Jennifer Aniston = Sushmita Sen , Adam Sandler = Salman Khan and Nicole Kidman = Katrina Kaif.
Interesting , isn’t it ?
What is even more interesting is the fact that Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya itself is inspired by Cactus Flower (1969) .
The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Do Ankhen Barah Haath (1957)
Shantaram’s Do Ankhen Barah Haath starring his wife , Sandhya Shantaram and B.M Vyas is considered an epitome of classic in Hindi Film History . The film was released in 1957. The story of the film revolved around 12 jail convicts who are transformed into good citizens. Interestingly , in 1967 , almost a decade later , Hollywood film director Robert Aldrich made a film The Dirty Dozen starring Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin which had exactly similar story line. Latter film too portrayed 12 convicts who were trained into good military men .
There are many other Indian movies as well that gave inspiration to Hollywood , like ,
Divorce Invitation (2012)- Aahwanam (1997)
Win a date with Tad Hamilton (2004) – Rangeela (1995)
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) – Madhumati (1958)
Satyajit Ray’s Charulata (1964) – ‘Forty Shades of Blue’ (2005)