YRF Films and Dibakar Bannerjee recently announced their first directorial venture together: a reboot of Saradindu Bannerjee’s 'Detective Byomkesh Bakshi'. While it’s a first for Bollywood, Hollywood, however, is in the midst of a wave of reboots for 2013-14. A major part of the industry enjoys making movie franchises backed by major production houses such as Fox Studios ('X-Men'), Paramount Pictures ('Marvel'), MGM ('James Bond') and Universal Studios ('Jaws'). A reboot is the retelling of a story, using new cast and crew, employing a new perspective to characters and essentially a new vision for a previously released film or franchise. It is different from a remake because it takes the story forward and in the process shows the growth of characters and plotlines.“Every reboot is a retelling of the original story through the voice of a director. Directing films such as 'Superman' or 'Spiderman' is not just a matter of putting things together and portraying it in a 120-minute show. Fictional tales such as these depend on the director’s idea of the story and how he envisions the entire concept,” says film critic Mayank Shekhar.
Hollywood has a plethora of film franchises, so naturally the reboot concept is more prevalent. With Bollywood having at least seven or eight running franchises, there is scope for it to become a trend here as well. “The quintessential ‘Bollywood superhero’ is defined so because of his ability to kill 18 villains with a flick of his wrist. However, with the making of 'Krrish' and 'Ra.One' the entire action figure concept has just been brought into perspective. Reboots need a plot and a storyline to be worked upon. 'Byomkesh Bakshi' is the only film which can be termed as a reboot in Bollywood. Even 'Don', is essentially a remake. For people who love to read creating a reboot with an updated avatar of a superhero or an action figure only makes it more popular than the original one as it makes more impact on the people,” explains Mayank.
The fate of reboots, according to director Rajat Kapoor, lies in the hands of production houses as they are the ones that decide on the budget for such films. “Star power is unnecessary for a superhero/action figure film because the film is not about the actor, but about the character. All he needs is a magnetic personality so that when someone like Christian Bale, who does not plan to become 'Batman' again, walks out, those big boots are filled by someone worthy. 'James Bond' faced a tough time when Sean Connnery walked out of the series. I believe Daniel Craig is the only James Bond that actually fits the bill after Connery. While most superheroes are remembered by the face of the actor who first enacted them, sometimes the more recent films become more popular because of the way the crowd identifies with the current situation. The best example is that of Christopher Nolan’s 'The Dark Knight', which identifies the world’s present situation with that of Gotham city,” explains Rajat.
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