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November 02, 2005
TRAILER FOR BOLLYWOOD'S OLDBOY
If you love Bollywood the way I love Bollywood (and if you live in Iowa, Rhode Island or Delaware you probably shouldn't) then nothing will make your morning like this trailer for ZINDA, the Bollywood remake of OLDBOY. (It's a downloadable RealPlayer thing)
Sanjay Gupta is helming ZINDA, and he's the dude responsible for KAANTE which is a Bollywood RESERVOIR DOGS knock-off, but unfortunately Gupta isn't known for flashy song n'dance numbers (which are becoming something of a thing of the past in Bollywood - these days MTV-style montages seem to be par for the course) so those looking for intricately choreographed numbers like "If I Had a Hammer" or "The Octopus Song (I Got Love in My Tummy Reprise)" may go home disappointed. However, according to this story, there is going to be at least one "toe-tapping" number in the movie.
Sanjay Dutt, who's a likeable clod of an actor with a self-deprecating charm (but he can't dance a step) is playing the Choi Min-Shik role and John Abraham will play the Yu Ji-Tae yoga role. I think Ms. Universe, Lara Dutta, will play the female lead.
My favorite thing about this movie is the breathless, no doubt completely planted, stories that are popping up on the Bollywood websites like this one that claims the trailer (the one above) is leaving everyone in Bollywood breathless and it is on the par, technically and plot-wise, with international films. Yes, international films like OLDBOY.
November 2, 2005 at 10:06 AM in News | Permalink
Comments
i'm so shocked. a completely unnecessary remake of a good korean movie, and mr. grady hendrix, being the pretentious asian movie snob that he is, has nothing but nice things to say about it. oooooooooh, i wonder what it must be that he likes about this COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY REMAKE -- could it be because hollywood isn't doing it? but no! that can't be. mister grady hendrix wouldn't just hate a remake because americans are involved, would he? i mean, he's not a stuffy liberal dork who hates all things american (re: his own nationality) but loves everything eles? could it be? could it? nooooooooooooooo. i refuse to believe it!
then again...
Posted by: anon | Nov 2, 2005 7:39:16 PM
Dear "anon",
I think you missed the tongue-in-cheekiness of Grady's post. Grady gives every indication that he expects this movie to be ridiculous... ridiculous fun, perhaps, but ridiculous just the same.
He makes fun of the notion of adding toe-tapping songs to OLDBOY, makes fun of the almost assuredly planted hype for the rather unremarkable trailer, and also makes fun of the hypemeisters failure to note that the "international film" that ZINDA is most "on par" with "plot-wise" is the film from which that plot was copied, OLDBOY.
Best!
Paul
Posted by: Paul | Nov 3, 2005 10:02:05 AM
Oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE let there be a dance number in place of the hammer fight. And maybe a catchy tune about incest. That would be heaven.
Posted by: Dylan | Nov 4, 2005 10:47:51 PM
YAY!!!!!!!!!
While I am dead-against a Hollywood remake of Oldboy, I am really looking forward to this version and hopefully I will get to watch it in Chinatown Cinema in Melbourne as it screens Indian movies from time to time.
Posted by: Tim Chmielewski | Nov 6, 2005 2:32:37 PM
I shudder to think about how bad this will be, but then again it is that "bad in a good way" kind of bad. I second the motion to replace the hammer fight with a snappy two step set to music.
Posted by: Gabriel | Feb 1, 2006 6:56:38 AM
I really can't believe this. But they do say that the biggest compliment is a copycat. Oldboy held so much strength, so much veracity in its production, cinematography, acting and soundtrack that a remake would never hold those same strengths ni the same balance that Chan Wook Park masterfully crafted when creating the original film. I remember watching that trailer for the original Korean film and being breathless. I was enamored because the film was so incredible that it had me at the 30 second trailer just gasping for breath. Watchign the trailer for this version left me a little pissed, definitely reluctant and sorry that this even came about...
Posted by: benny basics | May 7, 2006 5:02:10 AM
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