After mytho, what next? Serve old wine in a new bottle!

How do some creative Indian film producers combat the slew of animated mythological movies? By making animated versions of old Hindi classics! Why bother with writing an original story when you can just buy the rights to a successful movie from another era and package it as per the flavour of the season – Animation!

Don’t believe me? Read this news report on Pritish Nandy Communications’ latest venture – animated remakes of three Shakti Samanta golden oldies – Howrah Bridge, Amar Prem and Barsaat Ki Ek Raat.

Pritish Nandy announced, “This is my homage to one of the most underrated filmmakers of the country. When I met Mr. Samanta, he was so pleased to know his films would reach out to a new generation. Howrah Bridge is one of my favourite noire films. The magic of Sachin Dev Burman’s music, the chemistry between Ashok Kumar and Madhubala and the seductive charm of Ashok Kumar’s baritone….all that I want to capture in animation form.”

It is a noble thought but reach out to a new generation? How? Just by converting it into an animated film? I don’t think so. The story needs to lend itself to the medium. Capture the magic in ‘animation form’? Animation by itself is not going to be able to add value to these films. There has to be a better justification for rehashing stories meant for a very different kind of audience than the current one that thrives on hard-core action, flashy dances and slapstick humour. No doubt, the movies were masterpieces in their time but modern audiences have an extremely short attention span. The beauty of animation lies in its ability to paint in front of your eyes those images which can not otherwise be captured with a camera. Animation is about conveying fantasy through a visual medium, and exagerating reality. I fail to understand how any form of animation can do justice to the solemn lovestory in Amar Prem or the black n white thriller Howrah Bridge, let alone Barsaat Ki Ek Raat which didn’t even do well when it was first released!

PNC will not only pay a homage to the Bengali mellow-dramatist but also to the immortal melodies of Sachin and his son Rahul Dev Burman in the cinema of Shakti Samanta. We’ll be hearing the animated characters sing songs like ‘Aaiye Meherbaan’ in Howrah Bridge, ‘Yeh Kya Hua’ and ‘Raina Beeti Jaaye’ in Amar Prem and ‘Apne Pyar Ke Sapne’ in Barsaat Ki Ek Raat. Explains Mr Nandy, “We’ll have the original music from these films. But we’ll also have re-mix version of the originals side by side.”

Huh?!!

Almost makes me want the mytho-animations back! Really, for the sake of Indian animators, I do hope that Roadside Romeo will turn all these stereo-types on their heads and give us a reason to rejoice. This Diwali we will find out and until then I am keeping my fingers crossed.

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