I know this is a shot in the dark, but I have trouble believing that there is no Indian re-make of France's AMELIE, the most creative, happy, romantic movie that I have ever seen? Has anyone found a Bollywood/Tamil/Telugu remake/knock-off version of this movie??

After watching recently the trailer to ANAND, it just reminded me of the concept of India knocking off AMELIE...does this ANAND movie give off a sort of similar Amelie vibe?

Which Anand, the Telugu one from last year or the Hindi one from the 70s? Neither of these films is like Amelie, and I don't think there are any Indian films as whimsical as Amelie.

Santosh Sivan's film Malli has a sense of whimsy and fantasy about it, though.

DRAGUNR2,
Is MALLI out on DVD anywhere? I couldn't even find a review of it too...All I know is that Malli is the same name used for the terrorist girl in the same dirctor's THE TERRORIST..

Anand (Telugu) has nothing to do with Amelie. It's reality based film with no fantasy even in masala terms. Maybe you should check it out. It's a good film.

I haven't heard many(any?) bad things about Anand. I guess it's time I check it out as well!

There's no DVD that I know of. I saw it when we rented a 35mm print for a film festival.

http://www.pluto.no/filmfestival/off99/ ... dex-e.html

MALLI

Malli is a ten year old girl trying to help her poor parents the best she can by collecting firewood. Her big hero is Mr. Doctor, the local vet who treats all kind of animals from the village and the countryside beyond.

Malli's best friend is the mute daughter of a rich army officer. Malli has two dreams; to recieve a new dress from her father for the upcoming festival, and to find a magical blue bead to cure her friend from her illness. The story of the blue bead comes from Monu, the local witch, who has told of the time she herself was given a blue bead from a good spirit.

Through a series of events Malli ends up with a new dress for the festival, and she bribes Monu with some honey for a rhyme to invoke the good spirit. But all is put at risk when on her way home through the woods from the festival, Malli finds an injured fawn, shot by poachers, and her best friend is being moved from the village by her father.

Malli is a children's movie only through being a story told from the viewpoint of a child. This is a surreal and nightmarish world complete with all the dangers and pleasures childhood can present us with. The film looks at the inner life of a child and her relationship with the world around her in an incredibly imaginative, yet realistic way.

Dragun!! You saw it! What did you think of the film?

It was a fun, imaginative film. Very charming. I wish there were more films like this. Indian films made for children tend to be made only for children, whereas Malli is for everyone.

Thats the first thing that came to me when i saw Amelie . IMO - Amelie was really France's take on Bollywood , that said i hear the Tamil film Ghajini ( a rip-off from memento) has some Amelie inspired visuals - anyone can confirm this ??

BTW - i liked Anand , it was a total depature from "normal" telugu movies