Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par has been facing a lot of backlash, mainly due to it being a remake. He faced a similar fate with Laal Singh Chaddha, where people claimed it was a blatant rip-off of Forrest Gump.
When we think about remakes, filmmakers usually lean towards two types. One is a scene-to-scene replica of the original, with every frame, character arc, and storyline copied. The other is an adaptation, where the original story is reinterpreted and woven into the narrative the filmmaker wants to show.
Take Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara, for example—an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello set in the badlands of Meerut. It highlighted the socio-political nuances and organised chaos of the region. Bhardwaj borrowed the essence of the play and translated it into an Indian setting. That’s what makes it an adaptation.
Similarly, with Laal Singh Chaddha, Aamir attempted to Indianize Forrest Gump by integrating events like the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots and the 1999 Kargil War. However, the film failed to strike a chord and came off as a poor imitation. Aamir himself has admitted that his performance weighed the film down even further.
In essence, Laal Singh Chaddha was not meant to be a remake. Aamir took the core idea from Forrest Gump and tried to weave it into an Indian narrative, which is very different from a remake that sticks closely to the original source material.
Back in the day, the Hindi film industry capitalised on remakes primarily due to the lack of awareness among Hindi-speaking audiences. Films like Ghajini, Wanted, and Rowdy Rathore became fan favourites, even though they were clearly remakes.
The reason fans are opposing Sitaare Zameen Par so strongly is that Aamir has long advocated for originality and fresh stories. And yet, the trailer for his upcoming film seems like a scene-to-scene copy of the Spanish movie Champions.
Fans are still hoping that it’s just the trailer that mirrors Champions, and not the entire film. They’re rooting for Aamir to infuse some Indian-ness into the story because if it turns out to be a direct copy, fans are really going to be disappointed.
