Â´KarzzzzÂ´ Makers Commit The Same Mistake As Ghai With Â´KarzÂ´Â´

Â´KarzzzzÂ´ Makers Commit The Same Mistake As Ghai With Â´KarzÂ´Â´
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It must be a record of sorts. T-Series bought the remaking rights of an unsuccessful film from Subhash Ghai and remade it with the same blunder which Ghai had committed. Subhash Ghai’s 'Karz', contrary to popular belief, was not a commercial hit.

It wasn’t even an above average film except in a couple of cities. If, in spite of that, T-Series went ahead and acquired the film’s remaking rights (though one is not sure if T-Series, like most others, was even aware that 'Karz' was not a hit film), one thought that it would at least steer clear of the mistakes in the original, because of which it didn’t do well. Subhash Ghai has always admitted that he made a huge mistake by not casting Rishi Kapoor in a double role in Karz. According to him, the Hindi film audience is attuned to watching a reincarnation revenge drama with the hero/heroine playing a double role.

Ghai had once said, “I realised after 'Karz' failed in the small centres (that was the time when the business of small centres actually decided whether a film could be termed a hit or a flop) that the audience there did not even understand that Rishi Kapoor was Raj Kiran reborn because they were two different actors playing the two characters."

The unfortunate part is that T-Series repeated the mistake committed by Ghai in its remake, 'Karzzzz', probably because like the rest of the world, T-Series also thought that 'Karz' was a hit. Had the makers dwelt upon the point of reincarnation more seriously, they would have realised that in the Indian context, reincarnation films with revenge as the theme work if the dead person is reborn as the same person.

In such dramas, logic takes a back seat. Even if the audience recognises the reborn character as being a look-alike of the dead character, it is taken for granted that upto a point, the person from whom he/she has come to seek revenge will not recognise him/her. It may sound illogical, but that’s the way the Indian audience is. Why else would Farah Khan cast Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in double roles in 'Om Shanti Om'?

In that sense, Rakesh Roshan defied all logic when he showed Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan as two brothers who are killed and then are reborn in different families as Salman and Shah Rukh only! Had Roshan gone by logic, he’d never do what he did, but he was, obviously, guided by the box-office barometer. And nobody needs to be told what big hits 'Karan Arjun' and 'Om Shanti Om' were!