Korea And Bollywood: Skin-Deep Copies

Right before the iconic bloodbath-on-corridor sequence in Park Chan-wook바카라�s Oldboy (2003), Dae-Su (Choi Min-sik) enters his captor바카라�s office, threatening to pull out a tooth for each of the 15 years he was held captive unless he바카라�s told who wanted him imprisoned. The truth comes out after the sixth tooth. Known for embracing the violence of the films he is 바카라�inspired바카라� by and making it his own바카라�even Reservoir Dogs director Quentin Tarantino applauded the Mexican standoff in Kaante바카라�s (2002) climax, scored to Lucky Ali바카라�s 바카라�Maut바카라�바카라� Sanjay Gupta replicated the teeth-on-keyboard image exactly in Zinda (2006), an unofficial remake, and didn바카라�t change a beat about the corridor fight either in the movie starring Sanjay Dutt.

Gupta바카라�s initiatives inspired a slew of knockoffs: the Bhatts remade A Bittersweet Life (2005) into Awarapan (2007) and Chaser (2008) into Murder 2 (2011); Mohit Suri remade I Saw the Devil (2010) into Ek Villain (2014); My Sassy Girl (2006) was remade into Ugly Aur Pagli (2008), and Man from Nowhere (2012) into Rocky Handsome (2016). The ultra-violent action and actors바카라� pronounced theatricality in Korea바카라�s slick thrillers struck a chord in Bollywood years before the K-Pop wave and its fan armies.

Gulshan Devaiah recalls watching a YouTube clip of the Paris Fashion week, where some K-Pop celebrities showed up. 바카라�And everyone lost their shit!바카라� says the Dahaad (2023) actor. 바카라�I thought, 바카라�who are these people? And why haven바카라�t we crossed over like this?바카라�바카라� Devaiah also starred in Duranga (2022-23), an official remake of the Korean series Flower of Evil (2020), and a whodunit Footfairy (2020), which echoed the open-ended Memories of Murder (2003) and Zodiac (2007). Not a fan of the 바카라�adaptation바카라� process of lifting from existing films, Devaiah talks about how his curiosity gets the better of him in some cases. 바카라�I think we (Indian filmmakers) are not good at copying; it takes effort to steal,바카라� he says. 바카라�As the story has already been told, it is possible to do a decent remake only if you have something to say.바카라�

Besides the violence and the twist, a snazzy visual style, too, has been a major import from Korean to Hindi cinema. It바카라�s been interesting to note what the filmmakers choose to replicate frame to frame바카라�like Gupta did with the violence in Zinda바카라�and what they shy away from, like the incest subplot in Oldboy is replaced by misogyny to make it more family-friendly. According to Ribhu Dasgupta, director of Te3n (2016), a remake of Montage (2013), it바카라�s important to adapt according to one바카라�s own cultural sensibility. 바카라�Cool or stylized, action or drama, it has to be relatable to our audience,바카라� says Dasgupta. 바카라�It cannot be alienating.바카라� This explains, perhaps, why some subplots are diluted. Moreover, the film certification board that is relatively lax towards graphic violence tends to be stricter when it comes to any creative choice that could muddy the cultural fabric.

Suri and Gupta바카라�s films in the 2010s, though, haven바카라�t quite matched up to their success in the 2000s바카라�perhaps due to greater exposure to foreign films and a relatively higher cinema literacy among the audience who are now well-versed in Korean auteurs and their signature styles. With Korean influence, there has been a noticeable shift in the visual language of mainstream Hindi films with a recognisable blue or green tint바카라�something one would associate with a David Fincher film or a slick imitation. The stylised violence using the slo-mo of guns and bullets has been replaced with more visceral weapons like sledgehammers (Alia Bhatt in Jigra, 2024), knives, machetes (Arjun Kapoor in Singham Again, 2024). The choice of weapons brings more immediacy to the proceedings. In Malang (2020), which has nothing to do with a Korean film, Suri brings in a Korean-style single-take action sequence. It바카라�s a cool sequence where Aditya Roy Kapur바카라�s character goes through a jail corridor beating up everyone in his way. That it has no connection to the rest of the film is also apparent as it never becomes this gritty again. This suggests that Suri and peers deploy a superficial aesthetic with skin-deep adaptation choices by refusing to delve into the deeper themes of the original Korean films.

Similarly, Suri바카라�s Ek Villain is unable to capture the heft of I Saw the Devil바카라�s last scene in which Lee Byung-hun바카라�s character바카라�a stone-cold assassin through the entire runtime바카라�breaks down after avenging his partner. It바카라�s an unexpected, emotionally-heightened moment in a film that plays out like a cat-and-mouse thriller. Does Suri miss the point? 바카라�Maybe it바카라�s done in a certain manner for a reason, which you and I will not agree with,바카라� reasons Devaiah, the Shaitan (2011) actor. 바카라�Mohit (Suri)바카라�s films have catered to the masses, and his interpretation of grief and alcoholism has always been broad.바카라� Indeed, Ek Villain turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 2014, grossing around Rs 170 crore. Meanwhile, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat바카라�s Kill (2024), closer to an Indonesian or Thai film in terms of the relentless gory violence (along with muted Bollywood melodrama), wasn바카라�t as successful.

The violence in Korean films can feel vacuous when lifted into the Indian context because the Indian filmmakers are probably only looking to imitate the aesthetics. Subhajit Chatterjee, a faculty member at the Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University, notes how Indian filmmakers trying to replicate South Korean violence in an Indian film often lack the historical context of such violence. According to Chatterjee, there are tropes and motifs embedded in the violence that are instantly recognisable to an average Korean, but won바카라�t make sense to the average Indian.

Moreover, factors like population, theatre density, socio-economic conditions ensure that not everyone is looking for the kind of complex ending that might be fair game in a generic Korean film. It has to be turned into a cathartic climax in a Hindi film. 바카라�People still give me grief about the (open-ended) climax of Footfairy,바카라� says Devaiah. 바카라�Some of us might enjoy grappling with no closure at the end of a film. But some people need that illusion of closure, probably because they don바카라�t have it in real life바카라� It바카라�s probably important for their mental health to at least get closure in films.바카라�

While the onus of depicting violence is surely on filmmakers, Dasgupta also believes they should be 바카라�unflinching바카라� about it when the narrative demands it. 바카라�One can deal with it artistically and dramatically if needed,바카라� he says, pointing out that if someone uses violence merely for effect, it would show. Devaiah often finds himself wondering how Korean films execute the 바카라�insanely difficult바카라� illusion of violence on screen. It바카라�s a bit of a dichotomy for someone like him바카라�curious about how they achieve it from a craft perspective, but also knowing that the audience might not be able to stomach such sequences. Whatever the method, the reaction is usually binary: it either works or it doesn바카라�t. In Hindi films it surely doesn바카라�t work more often than it does. But, if intermittent 바카라�inspiration바카라� is going to be the Bollywood strategy, Devaiah leaves us with a maxim: 바카라�Be creative, and have fun with it.바카라�

(This appeared in the print as 'Tooth And Nail')