Until a few years ago, remakes did not really matter and were the same as any other original film. This was because there wasn’t as much exposure for audiences into other film industries of the country and world. With the advent of OTT platforms though, everyone is exposed to everything right now, which makes remakes a pointless affair, as every single movie now comes with subtitles.
Despite that, remakes are raining everywhere, in almost every industry. Be it songs or films or anything else at all, filmmakers are still doing remakes, for reasons unfathomable. Sometimes, these remakes workout, and sometimes, they explode in your face, as they fail to live up to the original. The perfect example for the latter case is the recently remade and remixed version of Allu Arjun’s Seeti Maar song, which was featured in Salman Khan’s Radhe. Radhe’s Seeti Maar was a colossal disaster, with no proper choreography, or appeal to it. It fell flat when compared to the original, drawing a lot of flak for its haphazard way of making.
Not just Bollywood, even Tollywood is remaking several films currently. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that a sort of remake season is going on in Tollywood currently. Megastar Chiranjeevi is about to act in two remakes – the remake of Lucifer (Malayalam) and the remake of Vedhalam (Tamil), Pawan Kalyan already made Vakeel Saab (Pink, Hindi) and is also remaking Ayyappanum Koshium (Malayalam), Venkatesh is doing two remakes – Drushyam 2 and Naarappa (Asuran), Nithiin is doing Maestro (Andhadhun, Hindi), the remake of Asuran is being planned with Bellomkonda Srinivas, the remake of Vivah (2006) is being planned with Bellamkonda Ganesh, and there are many more remakes in the making right now. With all the originals of these films already being watched by Telugu audiences, they feel it’s a waste of time remaking films, and an absolute cash grab, instead of which filmmakers should focus on making original films.