Time to stop Bollywood remakes?

Ram Gopal Varma (Ramu) is clearly a foolishly optimistic man. No one else would have called his seriously damp film Aag (fire). Apparently a tribute to Ramesh Sippy's blockbuster Sholay – the film that changed Bollywood forever – it flops on every count: story, direction, dialogue, acting, music …

Even Amitabh Bachchan fails to lend any spark to the proceedings. And Nisha Kothari, a very poor Ghungroo to Hema Malini's feisty Basanti, should retire from films. Now. Even if she's Ramu's latest muse.

This is the third Bollywood remake in recent years. Aishwarya Rai had made a lifeless Umrao Jaan, especially for those who remembered Rekha in the original. (We won't even go into the Bachchan link!)

Even Shah Rukh “King'' Khan had failed to impress as Don in a snazzier avatar of Bachchan's original character. At last that film had the excuse of having a new twist at the end.

Stop making these remakes. Make a sequel, or even a prequel, if you must, but leave our Bollywood classics alone. The new generation does not need to see shoddy versions of the original – we'll show them the classics at home!

PS: You know the two actresses who've suffered the most from remakes? Kareena Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar. Because they were made to do Helen's dances (Kareena in Don's Yeh Mera Dil; Urmila in Aag's Mehbooba O Mehbooba). Both did their best but the audience only laughed!