Written by: Muhammad Suhayb
Posted on: November 13, 2020 | 
Nadeem Baig and Shabnam in 'Aina'
It’s generally believed that Pakistan film industry or Lollywood survived the ‘invasion of the VCR’ in the late 70’s. The idea was that Pakistani directors found it easy to imitate ‘an already hit’ Bollywood film just for the sake of quick money, but compromised on quality. With Waheed Murad’s death, Muhammad Ali’s health problems, and Syed Kamal’s old age, it was only Nadeem Baig, Pakistan’s iconic hero from the ‘60s, who could entertain the cine-goers in the 80s, a decade marked by General Zia’s rule. Thus, Nadeem became a necessity with the producers if one wanted a quality film. Nadeem influenced even Bollywood films of the 80s and 90s, as the following write-up shows.
Introduced to Bollywood in 1983 via the film ‘Door Desh’, Nadeem captivated the film industry. The film was a Canadian production starring Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Parveen Babi, Raj Babbar and David Abraham. Nadeem played the role of a henchman ‘Tony’, who worked for a gangster played by Abraham. Critics were of the view that ‘Baig Sahab’ (Nadeem’s real name is Mirza Nadeem Baig), over-shadowed the protagonist Babbar on many occasions throughout the film.
The Poster for Door Desh
Those were the days when Amitabh Bachchan was recuperating from his Coolie injury and Mithun Chakravarty established himself as the next big thing with ‘Disco Dancer’. Curtains were near for the first superstar of India Rajesh Khanna, therefore he and Dharmendra needed new roles to continue working. They had no option but to get in the Nadeem mode.
Dharam Singh Deol was the first to do a Nadeem imitation. His ‘Jhuta Sach’ (1984) with Rekha, was a carbon copy of ‘Sangdil’ (1982) which was made by the legendary Pakistani director Hassan Tariq. Nadeem and Babra Sharif played parents to two kids, while pop sensation Nazia Hassan lent ‘Disco Deewane’ and “Aao na Pyar Karain” to the producer, singing as a playback singer for Sharif.
Sangdil
Rajesh Khanna (whose alias was ‘Kaka’) starred in three films during the 1985 and 1986 period which were exact copies of Nadeem’s work: ‘Alag’, ‘Adhikar’ and ‘Oonche Log’ were lifted from ‘Meherbani’ (1982), ‘Qurbani’ (1981) and ‘Dehleez’ (1983) respectively. ‘Meherbani’ and ‘Qurbani’ were the brainchild of legendary director Pervez Malik, while ‘Dehleez’ was Javaid Fazil’s adaptation of Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights. In an interview with the Delhi based magazine Shama, after the release of ‘Alag Alag’, Rajesh Khanna vehemently denied copying ‘Meherbani’. He countered that he had simply remade a Pakistani film which he had liked very much, in India. Strangely, ‘Meherbani’’s song ‘Kabhi Khwahisho ne Loota’ by Akhlaq Ahmed, became ‘Kabhi bekasi ne maara’, sung by Kishore Kumar. Similarly, Mehdi Hassan’s ‘Aaj tu Ghair Sahi’ from ‘Dehleez’ was re-sung by Kishore Kumar for ‘Oonche Log’.
The Poster for Qurbani
The recently-deceased Rishi Kapoor or ‘Chintu’, worked in the film industry for five decades, since his film as the lead in Bobby (1973). When younger, fresher actors began to debut, Rishi also had no other choice but to use ‘the N option’ to remain relevant. According to insider sources, Rishi Kapoor was provided a VHS cassette of Pakistan’s most successful film, ‘Aaina’ and was asked play Nadeem’s role in the Indian version, but he refused.
In 1992 came Chintu’s first attempt at a Pakistani film, ‘Inteha Pyaar ki’, a blatant copy of Nadeem and Babra’s ‘Parwana’, which bombed at its release in 1985. The songs by A. Nayyar, Mehnaz and Mehdi Hassan were replicated verbatim in the Indian version. However, even melodious tunes like ‘Jaanay se Pehlay Yeh Soch Lena’ and ‘Main na Bhulaonga’ could do nothing to save the Bollywood version either.
Nadeem and Shabnam’s super-hit film ‘Dillagi’ (1974) became Rishi Kapoor and Zeba Bakhtiyar’s film, ‘Muhabbat ki Aarzoo’ in India. Although Dillagi was made years before Aaina, Rishi had to surrender to K.C. Bokadia’s demand in 1994, the same man who gave him that fateful VHS of Aaina.
The Poster for Dil Lagi
In Aslam Dar’s original film, the protagonist is a mechanic who spends his whole salary by pretending to be rich. His ladylove is the daughter of a millionaire, who pretends to be a poor girl. Lehri, the owner of the workshop, was replaced by evergreen Mehmood in one of his final screen appearances in the Indian version. But sadly, the film was not a success either.
When the film ‘Aaina’ was being remade as ‘Pyar Jhukta Nahi’, Chintu’s refusal was Mithun Chakravarty’s gain. Mithun was not even a star yet, and there was no effort to embellish the script or change the plot either. The most famous song of the original, ‘Mujhay Dil se na Bhulaana’ became ‘Tum se Milke na Jaanay Kyun’, and was reused many times in other movies. Released after a slight delay in 1985, the film had a lukewarm reception with the audience.
The next time Mithun imitated Nadeem was in 1990, for ‘Pati Patni aur Tawaif’. Nadeem had collaborated with director Javaid Fazil in 1988, for a film titled ‘Bazar-e-Husn’ in which Nadeem and Samina Peerzada play a happy couple whose lives turn upside down when Salma Agha, a dancer from red-light area, enters their lives. Though Agha reprised her role in the Bollywood version, Farah played Samina Peerzada’s part. The film was produced by Rajkumar Kohli, a person with a notorious reputation for imitation. ‘Maula Jatt’ and ‘Naukar Wohti Da’ had become ‘Jeenay Nahi Doongi’ and ‘Naukar Biwi ki’ in the 70’s and 80’s, thanks to Kohli.
The Poster for 'Bazar-e-Husn'
Sunny Deol was riding high by mid-80s, until Anil Kapoor’s Mr. India made him invisible to producers. Pahlaj Nihalani, with hits like Ilzam, wanted to remake a film that had been forgotten in popular memory, and selected Javed Fazil’s ‘Faisla’ (1986) for this purpose. It was shamelessly copied as ‘Paap ki Duniya’, in which Sunny Deol became Nadeem’s character, and Shabnam’s role went to Neelam. Chunky Pandey seemed perfect for Javed Shaikh’s character while Pran did Agha Talish’s role, and Danny was the best choice for Afzal Ahmed’s Pasha film that was released in 1988. Even the soundtrack by Bappi Lahri was borrowed.
The Poster for Pehchaan
Even Sanjay Dutt acted in ‘Namak’ (1996), a blatant copy of Pervaiz Malik’s ‘Pehchaan’ (1975). Sunjoo Baba did Nadeem’s role, while Farah was chosen for Shabnam’s role. An unknown and very young actor was selected to become Qavi Khan, while Nirupa Roy, the mother figure of Bollywood, was asked to fill Sabiha Khanum’s shoes. Even the song ‘Mera Pyar Tere Jeevan ke Sang Rahayga’, the popular hit of ‘Pehchaan’, was borrowed from the original. However, this could not save the film.
In commercial cinema, taking inspiration from previously made films is nothing new. However, the success of films depends on how well the filmmakers use and adapt the concepts to commercial tastes. Though the movie ‘Aaina’, was inspired by three Bollywood films, Nazrul Islam’s direction, Bashir Niaz’s script and Robin Ghosh’s music made it into a classic in its own right. Similarly, ‘Qurbani’s’ central idea was taken from the Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep classic Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), but Pervez Malik’s direction, along with M. Ashraf’s compositions made the film more relatable for the local audience. ‘Dehleez’ was quite similar to Dilip Kumar and Waheeda Rehman’s film, ‘Dil Diya Dard Liya’ (1968), but the freshness of Javaid Fazil’s vision gave it a completely different look. Sadly, for the Nadeem-inspired Bollywood films, they did not achieve the box-office success due to their unimaginative content and poor execution.
You may also like:
