LAAL SINGH COPYCAT

2 stars / 5 (Average)
Director: Advait Chandan Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Mona Singh
Hindi (with English subtitiles), release 11/8/2022

For an industry that now calls itself ‘Bollywood’, what else did you expect apart from this dutiful rip-off of a modern Hollywood classic? Meanwhile, the other part of the industry that has remained proudly independent, soldiers on, without superstars and without over-safe, cowardly scripts.

In the film, a little girl asks ‘Kahaan rehthe ho?’ (Where do you live?) and the little boy replies ‘Mere ghar vich’ (in my house). Just like the little boy, there are other little boys in this global village of ours who spend the better part of their safe little lives cocooned in their little houses, often watching DVDs of pardesi classics from a quarter century ago, becoming convinced that they should make an official remake of it, so that the bumpkins who didn’t catch the original can get a taste of that fabled honeyed milk (and the few crores thus generated would never hurt a perpetually cash-strapped film ecosystem).

‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ is an official copy (don’t you dare use the word ‘plagiarism’) of 1994’s cinematic miracle ‘Forrest Gump’, crafted out of a screenplay by Eric Roth, based on a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. Directed by the visionary Robert Zemeckis, the first film is a story of a simple-minded man whose gutsy mother never gives up on him – he goes on with his determination and single-mindedness to rack up a dazzling slew of achievements, from college basketball and ping pong champion to Vietnam war hero to becoming a millionaire, all while naturally avoiding what my great cine guru Roger Ebert called ‘being too clever by half’.

Competently directed by Advait Chandan, ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ treads more or less the same ground. The home state shifts from Alabama to Punjab (‘Bollywood’ loves Punjab, so why even bother with selecting a South/East/Central Indian background – the name of the game here is convenience, stupid !). Laal (Aamir Khan) is a simpleton, but with a genius for running forward where many others would tire.  He is bolstered by his determined mother (played by Mona Singh – real life age 40, her ‘son’s real life age 57 – another triumph for Bollywood). Laal maintains a life-long love for his prodigal childhood sweetheart Rupa (Kareena Kapoor). He will plough ahead no matter what, converting lemons into lemonade and converting lemonade into endless empires of best-selling Sprite.

It is almost impossible to see this movie without constantly seeing a background super-image of the magnificent original. This would have been a fine film if there were no original, with the sobering caveat that there would been no Laal Singh Chaddha without the original.

It also underscores a simple reality – don’t waste time remaking a perfect film, instead try to make another story which achieves perfection. Aamir Khan can do better than this. When over-bearing instinct gives way, his starhood has presided over such wonderfully original Indian films as ‘Laagan’, ‘Taare Zameen Par’ and ‘Dangal’.

Atul Kulkarni’s adapted screenplay does introduce some inspired tweaks – the little Laal teaching something vital to a future Indian icon, the war rescue, the game-changing idea that will finally make Laal the overlord of undergarments. The half-full theatre twittered at these hilarious touches. Largely however, the re-treaded territory makes for wan watching. The original’s expert intersections through famous public life events is poorly re-imagined in the Indian context. Afraid that the Hindutva brigade has taken a dislike to him, Khan displays gratuitous images of Narendra Modi and associated messaging like Swachh Bharath (Clean India).

The film’s best act belongs to Kareena Kapoor’s sensitive, natural performance as a lady whose life is capsized by the effects of abuse. Khan smiles much more than Forrest Gump and with his arched eyebrows and bulging eyes, his sunny earnestness (two notches above the alien in ‘PK’) is nice but not enough to match the unique bland brilliance of Tom Hanks’ act. The film has recorded poor attendance in the first two days, with the Indian audience sending a clear message : ‘Show your guts as an original storyteller’. However, with the country’s best film-maker Anurag Kashyap also releasing a re-made film ‘Dobaaraa’ soon, Copywood might have reached its finest hour.

 

For more movie reviews by U Prashanth Nayak please click: http://www.upnworld.com//upn/movie_lists