Lost in adaptation

Take a Hollywood or Korean hit and Bollywood-ify it with A-listers. What could go wrong? Plenty. Here are 10 remakes that totally lost the plot

- Sneha Krishnan

1 Laal Singh Chaddha (2022).

The Indian retelling of the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump (1994) was never going to be easy. Tom Hanks's hit about a simpleton whose life is entwined with major moments in history thrives on Americana and sap. Would Indian masalas ruin the flavour? Aamir Khan mixed in Kargil flashbacks and a Punjabi twist for his hero, Laal. But he faltered by trying to play it exaggerated. What should have been charming felt like parody. Plus, it was just too long. Pity.

2 We are Family (2010).

A fierce, no-nonsense mother, diagnosed with terminal cancer, has to make peace with her children's glam soon-to-be stepmother. Whether you watch it as a mom, child or bystander, Stepmom (1998) is a tearjerker. Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts play mom and stepmom. Kajol and Kareena Kapoor do the Indian version. But mom, where's the conflicts, the messy family dynamic? Why so many montages? Where are the real feels?

3 Players (2012). The Italian Job (2003) was slick and clever without trying too hard. A Bollywood remake was always going to be louder: Explosions, Russian mafia, high-speed trains, Arctic gold. But it scrimped on the basics: tension, timing, emotional stakes. Instead of an edge-of-the-seat thriller, we got boring slow-motion entries and songs that killed the momentum.