Daddy Cool - Opposed to - Death at a Funeral

The year 2007 saw the release of the hilarious British comedy – ‘Death at a Funeral.’ The topic of the movie was pretty sensitive and so it was tactfully made with a lot of wild situations and confusions thrown in. Bollywood’s ‘Daddy Cool’ released in the year 2009 and something seemed off.

The year 2009 was also the year of exact copies.

After another crucial second of seeing the theatrical trailer of Daddy Cool, I got it. Daddy Cool was the exact copy of Death at a Funeral.

After a little research, the fog started to lift off. It so happens that the producers have paid a massive amount to acquire the remake rights. And so, everybody from the producers to the actors, are not denying the fact that Daddy Cool has been copied. Of course they don’t like to use the word ‘copied’ in any form, so they say it’s not a copy as the remake rights have been taken. Reliance Big Pictures has also bought the rights for Boney M’s song ‘Daddy Cool.’

Suniel Shetty, from the movie cast, said that “Funerals are no laughing matter in our culture. So while remaking the original film we had to keep in mind the local sentiments. Ours is far more emotional, far less farcical comedy than Death at the Funeral.” Now I don’t know why he said that, funerals are no laughing matter in any culture. To take something as sensitive and evoking as a funeral and to make a comedy movie out of it takes a lot of strength, writing and directing abilities. No wonder it is being remade. The least one could do is appreciate the original movie while acting in the copied version of it.
The basic point circles around and reaches the same place. Why does Bollywood need to get remake rights? Where is the original creativity, save for the few?

“You could say Daddy Cool is the face of the new corporatized Bollywood. We can’t have sneaky stolen films any more. Everything has to be on paper” says Suniel, one of the first entrepreneur heroes of Bollywood. I really don’t understand this statement. Does he mean we can’t sneakily steal films but have to carry out the proper paperwork for stealing?  It won’t be called stealing then, I assume. Although he is right in saying we must give recognition to films we’re remaking (I hope he means that), remolding films whilst giving credit to the original one is still not the solution.