Riddle me this – who has made the best movie version of the Godfather so far?
My answer: your brain. And mine. And anyone else who has read the Godfather novel free of the influence of any of the celluloid attempts. Because the story that Puzo wrote in the Godfather cannot be condensed to two, or three, or six hours of cinema. Feel free to disagree, but hey, are you telling me that the Johnny Fontaine subplot is not relevant to the story? Or that Lucy’s life after Sonny’s death does not figure in the big picture at all? Or that we are not supposed to know about Albert Neri’s past life and how he became Michael’s bodyguard? Like I said, feel free to disagree, and I will feel free to shake my head and do hideous things to you in my mind. So let us not bring up the topic of adapting the Godfather novel to screen, and instead concentrate on the first film that tried, the Coppola version, and how Ram Gopal Verma tries really hard, like his predecessors before him, to make a “crime family” movie.
Coppola’s Godfather gave us – among other things – natural lighting, a hoarse-voiced Man of Honour (Marlon Brando, for the clinically brain-dead), and the Successor Guy Who Does Not Want To Do It But Does It Anyway, forgettable bad guys, and Nino Rota’s score, a musical composition that weakens the knees of fifteen-year old Indian boys and make them want to learn to play wind instruments.
Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar gives us, in that order, natural lighting, a hoarse voiced Man of Honour, the Successor Guy etc , forgettable bad guys, and the most cacophonous sonic arrangements ever heard onscreen, courtesy Amar Mohile, last remembered as the man who screwed up Vaastu Shastra. An act that required much prowess, if I may say so, because to screw up something that was already screwed-up is a herculean task.
Verma’s bad guys in Sarkar are wannabe cool-dudes, all in their own way. There is the obligatory Middle-eastern Drug Peddler who wears sunglasses and acts so bad he makes Keanu Reeves look animated. Though in his defence, Hemant Birje still maintains the top ranking in the WAH! category. ( That’s Woody And Ham, for the uninitiated. The exclamation point is for effect.) The rest of the crew – which includes a sleazeball politician, a fat South Indian thug with an atrocious accent, a nefarious unHoly Man (played by Jeeva, who did the smashing role of the new Commissioner in Ab Tak Chhappan) and an ex-crony – who plot to bring the Man of Honour down are all greasy, distasteful bunch of crooks whose badness hits you with the subtlety of a jackhammer. These are people you cannot sympathize with, whose motivation can be summed up in three words – Do Bad Shit. People who look like they do Bad Shit and nothing but. And talk like they’ve had fifteen cups of black coffee in a row. (except for cool-dudish Middle Eastern Drug Guy)
Which kind of puts paid to the fact that this is supposed to be a “realistic” crime movie.
The music. The most atonal mess my mind has ever had to deal with. If you get rid of all the dialogues, all the expressions, everything in the film except for the background score, you would probably still figure out what’s going on. A south Indian guy comes into the scene? A mridangam begins to play. A holy man? A whiny tanpura. Even the “Govinda” leitmotif is taken too far – I mean, I can understand the semi-religious undertones of the Sarkar character, but having twenty people scream the same word at various bpm and decibel levels at EVERY moment of import in the film does make the word “overkill” sound like an understatement. The music is just there, every single moment in the film, like an uninvited, opinionated (not to mention loud) relative who plonks himself at your house and decides to stay on for a month without telling you in advance.
The assumption with which Verma directs the movie is that the moviegoer is familiar with Coppola’s Godfather. Which saves him the trouble of explaining who Sarkar is, how he came to power, what he really does, or why the teeming masses wave at him every morning from beyond the walls of his “fortress”. Which is a bad thing for someone who has *not* seen the original, because everything irrelevant to the succession-story is brushed off on the basis of that assumption. At the same time, for someone who has seen Coppola’s version, there is the more-than-occasional jarring note – the storyline deviates. A lot. Again, what’s so bad about it, you might ask. Just that most of the changes are pointless. Why not just have three sons and a daughter and kill the eldest son off etc etc? Why have Katrina Kaif and waste precious minutes that could have been spent on developing the main characters?
Why am I blabbering so much about this? Because I was honestly expecting something that would blow away Verma’s previous crime ventures, and establish this movie as The remake. Because RGV was the only filmmaker in India who understood what subtlety was ( and I assure you, I am talking about subtlety in a commercial context, and not about bare, stripped-down filmmaking) Because I was looking forward to seeing Kay Kay as Sonny Corleone, a character very close to my heart, and was kind of crushed when Sonny and Freddy overlapped.
But then, the movie did make me want to go and re-read Puzo’s novel. Which is never, ever a bad thing.
This is what I call a movie critique.
Hot damn, brother.
Because RGV was the only filmmaker in India who understood what subtlety was
I can’t tell you how much the past tense in the sentence fills me with bitter disappointment. And the helplessness that I can’t really find fault with the sentence. The movie was loud.
This is what I call a movie critique.
Zigackly.
So I’ll save Sarkar for the small screen, then. Thanks, beatzo!
Anytime, sir. :-)
And I don’t even like the look of this new film called James from the Factory. Seems like one of those eighties Ajay Devgan blood-and-gore-fests. What’s this world coming to anyways?
It’s as past tense as it gets, tragically.
He’s just announced Sarkar 2, and I’m assuming the James kid will play the flashbacked young Sarkar.
Sigh .
It’s all bad. He’s signed Mallika Sherawat for at least two projects, and what on earth he’s doing with Sholay is anyone’s guess.
Again, any other director, okay. But RGV actually gave us hope, and then – govindagovindagovinda – ripped it out from under our feet.
I would have watched Sarkar, but for two things. And both of them have the same name. Imagine having to suffer them both on screen. As it is, the patriarch is all over television, and print media.
Pappu pass ho gaya! AAAAAAAAARGH!
Brilliant! Actually words fall short!
But you have obviously not seen another Godfather remake called Zulm Ki Hukumat starring Dharam paaji (as the original Godfather) and ChiChi bhaiya (as Michael Corleone). You would have been really thankful for the classic piece of film-making that is Sarkar otherwise.
Wohoho!
This sounds even more juicier than the Superman remake with Puneet Issar! When did this come out….
Re: Wohoho!
How can anything beat Puneet Issar flying in blue leotards! But yeah, this movie had its own high (or low, depending on where you stand) points too. Been around for over a decade at least.
*Deep bow*
Godfather remakes Bombay has produced:
Dharmatma: Prem Nath as Don Vito, Feroze Khan as Michael, Afghanistan as Italy. Also Rekha and Hema Malini.
Zulm Ki Hukumat: What you said. Also, Kimi Katkar.
Aatank hi Aatank: Rajnikanth as Don Vito(begins with a wedding song with him dancing in white shoes) Aamir Khan as Michael. Also, Pooja Bedi and Juhi Chawla.
Sarkar: The subject of this discussion, enough said. Also, Tanissssha as the chick who should have died in the car bomb blast. Fuck.
Aatank hi Aatank: Rajnikanth as Don Vito
I think his role was Sonny and not Don Vito. (I have only seen a coupla scenes of the move though)
What abt the godfather remake from the south? “Nayakan” directed by Maniratnam starring Kamal Hassan as Don Vito. This movie was a loosely based on Godfather. It mostly followed Don Vito’s surge to the top (in essence more of Godfather 2). I had some scenes which were literal copies of the original though.
You know, if one didn’t compare with The Godfather (the book or the movie), it’s not that bad. I thought the performances were pretty good, and the first half was quite fine. My dad’s not seen Godfather, nor has he read the book, he thought it was a bit of a take on Bal Thackeray. He did like the movie though he was pissed that it showed Thackeray in good light. One could possibly imagine Raj and Uddhav instead of the 3. Maybe RGV was purposely ambiguous, though he did credit The Godfather.
But otherwise, yeah…As an “inspired by” thingie, it falls short by some distance. The soundtrack was bad, and yes, Govinda was quite a horror.
Yeah, the movie was enjoyable own its own merit, although I am no serious film buff like beatzo and the others. And while the villians could have been better, the Southindian guy was a riot! Damn entertaining villian, he was too.
I also liked the minimal display of melodrama and dialogues in the movie – with my limited knowledge of hindi films, I think that’s a damn big departure from the usual.
In a non-RGV film, I would have taken in my stride the “entertaining” villain. But I really don’t get why he should have made caricatures out of the characters – things that people like David Dhawan and the Darshan brothers ( Hallowed be Their Name!) excel at.
He shouldn’t have mentioned the inspiration at the beginning of the film, really. :-(
:)
my man.
nicely summarised.
yes, I agree with you. The Puzo novel is definitive, but what Coppola did was valiant. The first time I watched it, I felt like I’d seen it before. There was dogged loyalty to the original, and while several crucial bits were cruelly lopped out, a lot was left in. If you’d read the book, FFC’s two films just made you revisit a lot of the best stuff. And such performances.
but you know what?
It feels good when you and I agree.
:)
Re: :)
Ah, I hadn’t seen your review. Off normal internet browsing for quite sometime. We seem to agree a lot, eh? :-D
And, man o man, I just checked out the comments on the rediff reviews. Jeez, there are some really pissed-off wankers out there, eh?
:D
ain’t that the truth… it’s fun reading them, though. people have the bizarrest complaints! :D
Tomaar jonyo ekta bhalo gangsta’ chhobi khujtei habey. Ta naholey eker par ek eyi rokom khitkhitey lekhon likhbe.
:P
Infernal Affairs 3 aachhe toh. Oita dekhte hobey prothome. :-D
superb film review.. yes the sound track was awful .. frm the guy who made rangeela i expect better music..
the film was technically super slick as are all ramu films .. did you notice the slowing of fan blades and smoke frm incense sticks when jeeva is onscreen.
i was dying to see the flush tank revolver sequence.. also godfather was chicago in 1920s .. bbay is a remote cry … they are such diff time periods and setups.. to attempt is to flounder…
btw the film was more like thackerays life.. thackerays older son vrinda (smita thackerays hubby) was done away with..also mohile is frm thackeray camp and thts one reason he was on the film..
also godfather was chicago in 1920s
Not really. It was New York between the thirties and the fifties. :-)
Hmm, I didn’t know that bit about Thackeray’s son being killed and all.
thakeray is one helluva interesting character.. shud put up a huge post on him…
sorry shud have been more specific with my dates but what i meant was
basically the immigrants when they first came to america always went to chicago.. till date chicago is known for ghetto culture.. and since ‘the family’ was a ghetto the setting could be likened to chicago..
the reason most ‘ 2nd gen immigrants’ got into crime and smuggling was becoz they were never allowed equal public space..
Great post. Sounds like RGV’s Sarkar misses the mark as much as Gus van Sant’s Psycho remake.
>My answer: your brain. And mine.
True, dat. There’s a lot of cool shit happening in the novel that would require a series as long as the Simpsons to capture.
I do have a question. I’ve pretty much stopped following Bollywood releases because I’ve developed an obssessive hatred of plagiarism. Now here’s the thing: why are original Bollywood movies actually copies of original Hollywood movies? I was watching some movie called Yuva. The non-linear structure just seemed so forced. A pathetic attempt to grab fawning reviews about the “radical” directing from the rear osculators that review movies for our newspapers. A non-linear plot in a Tarantino film means something: it’s there for a reason, to surprise and dazzle us. In Yuva, the director used a non-linear structure to tell….a linear story. wtf?
Sounds like RGV’s Sarkar misses the mark as much as Gus van Sant’s Psycho remake.
Absolutely. But you know what? He’s planning to remake Sholay now, and also direct a sequel to Sarkar. “Sheesh” is all I can say.
why are original Bollywood movies actually copies of original Hollywood movies?
Because Bollywood filmmakers don’t read books, they just watch movies. And they don’t even watch good Jap/Korean movies, just dumb Hollywood ones. :-)
>He’s planning to remake Sholay now
Ay carumba! My memories of Sholay will be soiled. Now the only pure thing left from my childhood is my love for rasam…
>And they don’t even watch good Jap/Korean movies, just dumb Hollywood ones.
You do realise this is a good thing. Imagine a Bollywood remake of “Oldboy”. Ajay Devgan as the main character, growing progressively “older” wearing a grey-white wig, escaping, roaming the streets of Mumbai searching for the appropriate flavour of panipuri… My mind would boggle if it hadn’t blown a fuse already.
btw, do you still have all that Kill Bill & Meiko Kaji stuff? If so, could you possibly share it using filepost.us or something similar? I’ve lost all of it and that site has, unsurprisingly, shut down. :(
*raises eyebrow*
what stuff is being mentioned so surreptitiously?
hmm. Intrigued, I am.
Bollywood remake of Oldboy – Oh lord. I think I bust a gut laughing, dude.
:D
Re: *raises eyebrow*
Aaaaaah, nothing much, just about 700 MB of music related to Kill Bill. Some of which had pointed out on a site awhile back. :)
Re: *raises eyebrow*
>hmm. Intrigued, I am.
Oh, just a load of Kill Bill related stuff- including music that isn’t available on the OST CDs- and a lot of Meiko Kaji songs. Some crazy fanboy/girl had assembled them on an obscure website which I managed to dig up. Can’t understand these fanboys, really. ;)
Re: *raises eyebrow*
Oh, yeah, this also included wuxtry scenes like the full colour version of the showdown at the House of Blue Leaves, and Sophie’s other arm being lopped off, from the Japanese version. You know, the kind of high-brow stuff they show in Film Appreciation courses. Seriously, organizations like the CBFC and FCC have absolutely no concern for Artistic Integrity. Which reminds me.
I have all of it on a CD (all the stuff on that site and much more).
Mail me at my username at gmail, and we’ll figure out a way to get them over to you.
what ever
what ever …people think write discuss….movie is A hit even in places like mirzapur..deongarh…whats the use discussing about somethimg u cannt change…
RGV recovered his money and sahara pictures is flying high….
Re: what ever
Well, as they say, money can’t buy you love. ;-)
whats the use discussing about somethimg u cannt change…
Very true. But then what’s the point of commenting on a useless discussion like this? You could always go and see something like Mahesh Bhatt’s Murder, no? Even that made a lot of money, as far as I can recall.
Re: what ever
So?
novel”it”y
THEVAR MAGAN (The son of the chieftain)…made by Bharatan..was loosely based on GODFATHER…the music by ilayraja..(which inspired anumaalik in numerous ways)…anyway this movie was remade in hindi as VIRASAT….and that famous tabu/revathi jummpachick jumm jumm….
Re: novel”it”y
Thevar Magan is not based on The Godfather, I’m afraid, loosely or otherwise. It’s the story of a guy having to make a choice after his father dies. Read the Godfather, if you haven’t already – it’s slightly different.
Hey!
On a totally unrelated note, have sent you a mail on your yahoo and msn accounts. Pliss to check… :)
Sarika
http://pleiades.blurty.com
I pliss to checked, and wrote a reply too. :)
my man ..
dripping disdain ! rock on.
jake,
insufferablejake.blogspot.com
Re: my man ..
Thank you. I shall. :)
mangal pangey …
hey dude juss saw mangal pandey (first day morning show)….it rocked..b.g.s was awesome u ll love it being a arr fan…released a day before indian release thou…..