Bollywood is often accused of not being original and copying movies from other film industries like Hollywood, South Indian, and Korean movies. It’s true to an extent that Bollywood has many times copied stories from other film industries but you will be surprised to know that there have been times when other movie industries remade Bollywood movies. Have a look at a few such movies:
Vasool Raja MBBS from Munnabhai MBBS
Munnabhai MBSS starring Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, and BomanIrani was directed by RajkumarHirani and it’s a comedy movie where an underworld don wants to become a doctor. The movie was quite successful and it has been remade in various South Indian languages and the most noteworthy among them is the Tamil remake Vasool Raja MBBS starring Kamal Hassan.
Munnabhai MBBS was released in 2003 and it marked the debut of RajkumarHirani as a director. In the movie, Sanjay Dutt plays a local goon Munnabhai who vows to take revenge on Dr. Asthana (BomanIrani) by becoming a doctor as Dr. Asthana insulted his father for Munna not being a doctor. The movie was remade in Tamil as Vasool Raja MBBS featuring Kamal Haasan in the titular role.
Billa from Don
Remaking Bollywood movies in the South is not a new trend as there have been many movies in the past that were remade in Tamil. Billa, a 1980 movie starring Rajnikanth was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s Don.
Tamil superstar Rajnikanth worked in many Amitabh Bachchan remakes in the 70s and 80s and Billa is one of them. Billa was released in 1980 and it was a remake of the superhit movie Don that had Amitabh Bachchan in the lead. Billa was a very successful movie in Tamil Nadu and cemented Rajnikanth’s popularity as a lead hero.
Nanban
Nanban starring Vijay in the lead was the official remake of the Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots that Aamir Khan in the lead.
Nanban is the only remake movie director Shankar ever worked in. Nanban was the remake of RajkumarHirani’s 3 Idiots, a blockbuster movie that featured Aamir Khan, Madhavan, and Sharman Joshi in the lead along with Kareena Kapoor and Boman Irani. In the Tamil movie, Nanban Vijay played the role played by Aamir Khan in the original.
A Common Man
A Common Man was a Sri Lankan movie featuring Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross and it was an official remake of the 2008 Bollywood movie, A Wednesday.
You will be surprised to know that Bollywood movies are remade in other countries and A Common Man was one such a movie. It was remade in Sri Lanka in 2013 as A Common Man and featured Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross in the roles played by Naseeruddin Shah and AnupamKher in the original. It was directed by famous Sri Lankan director ChandranRutnam and the movie was both a critical and commercial success when released.
