What makes remakes flourish or perish?

Many filmmakers and top stars get fascinated by the hit films in other languages and get tempted to remake them and score blockbusters easily in their language. While few of them succeeded in their attempts, few of them burnt their hands and tasted disasters.

Under these circumstances, let us discuss the anatomy of a remake and dissect it and find out what makes remakes flourish or perish. When a film turns out to be a hit or blockbuster in a particular language, people of that language and region got connected emotionally and owned the story in all forms, be it regionally, linguistically, and even the characters.

While remaking the film, the makers and the stars usually find it difficult to match the original's performance. They try to make subtle changes keeping in view the linguistic and regional differences. This at times dilutes the original soul and flavor. But at times, the elevation of heroism in the name of remake works if it connects chords with the people in form of comedy and hero's antics as long as it doesn't spoil the soul, tone, and tenor of the film.

It is easier said than done. That was the reason why even Venkatesh who tasted many hits with remakes failed to set screens on fire with Narappa. However, film-like Drushyam worked out with him as he attracted with his mannerisms and intensity. His Drushyam 2 may work once again as it suits him aptly.

Chiranjeevi scored hits with remakes like Shankar Dada MBBS but couldn't replicate it with Shankar Dada Zindabad as the second one has less entertainment in the original itself compared to the first one. He scored a hit with the Katti remake, with the makers elevating his heroism through dances and stunts. The same is the case with his film Tagore where the songs and dances turned out to be a rage.

Pawan Kalyan failed to set screens on fire with Katamarayudu which is a remake but emerged successful with Vakeel Saab though few scenes went out of sync. Adivi Sesh scored a hit with Yevadu and here the makers improvised on the original. So unless the makers instead of copy-pasting in the name of the remake, improvise in ironing out of the shortcomings of the original like the drags and slow pace without spoiling the soul of the film, it is difficult to score hits with the remakes.