Bollywood Masterpieces Which Are Best Left Untouched

With this trend of classics being remade catching on, it’s natural to feel apphrehensive about what the coming times may do to our beloved movies. Added to that is the fact that the remakes are less than flattering and often just rehash the old content. Take for example two classic cases of Sholay and Karz. What these two movies accomplished is a question best left unanswered.

Sometimes, it’s okay to remake some movies, but definitely there are some movies should not be touched in a bid to give it a new meaning. Here is a rundown on movies which, in my opinion, must never be remade.

Andaz Apna Apna

Andaz Apna Apna was a tale of two goofy guys who set out to make their fortunes but end up in funny love stories. The simplicity of the story and the brilliance of the script made the film stand out and though it was not a big, big hit at the time it released, it went on to be counted as one of the few cinematic gems of our Hindi cinema. The absolute genius of the two lead stars (Aamir and Salman) made the movie incomparable. I put it down to be one of the movies that should never, never be remade.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron

A comedy which was a bit ahead of its times, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron was probably the first satirical comedy of Bollywood. Actors who later turned into incomparable veterans made this immensely enjoyable movie a class act in its own right. Actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Om Puri, Ravi Baswani, Satish Shah and Neena Gupta made the screen go live with their eccentric performance.  Even if they try, this is a movie that cannot be bettered.

Golmaal (Original)

This was a laugh fest and to this date the originality of the story remains unchallenged. The scenes which show Utpal Dutt and Amol Palekar are vintage Bollywood and you cannot help but smile at the situational comedy. There is nothing exceptionally special about the story, but the performances made the movie stand apart. Remaking it would serve practically no purpose.

Mr. India

Mr. India was released in 1987. If you see it today, you may see the lack of technical finesse, you may even laugh at the sets and costumes, which are way too obsolete for today’s times, but hey, can you manage and NOT enjoy even one minute of the movie? The story of a happy-go-lucky do-gooder guy who runs an orphanage at his own house, and falls in love with the snooty yet lovable gal from the local newspaper, was a winner from the word go. Why? Apart from all the good things, the movie has Mogambo, who may probably be the best remembered villain of Bollywood. You can remake Mr. India a thousand times, but you can’t create the same Hawa Hawaii, the same Mogambo and the same chemistry all over again. So, better not do it.

Chupke Chupke (1975)

Chupke Chupke (the original one) was and is by far the funniest Hindi movie I’ve ever seen. Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore are hilarious and the other actors (Amitabh, Jaya, Om Prakash, Ansrani etc) never miss a moment to tickle your bone. But more than anything, it is the screenplay that relies so heavily on situation comedy which makes this piece of cinema invincible. One can remake the story into a new narration, but the actors who have immortalized their characters will always command ownership of the movie.

Sholay should have been in this list and so should be movies like Sahab Biwi aur Ghulam.  However since Sholay has already been redone into a movie that should be expunged from the memory of everyone who has had the misfortune of seeing it, there should be a rulebook in Bollywood where the example of Sholay should be put forward and the future generations of filmmakers should be banned from making a select list of Bollywood classics – both for the sake of preserving the original movie’s memory and for the sake of keeping sacred things untouched.