Ravi Chopra buys copyright for remake of 'My Cousin Vinny'

By Subhash K. Jha, Mumbai, Aug 12: Times, they're certainly changing. After unabashedly making remakes of Hollywood hits without bothering about copyright laws, Bollywood filmmakers are waking up to its importance.

Ravi Chopra, who has just released a colour version of his dad B.R. Chopra's 1957 classic "Naya Daur", has purchased the copyright of 1992 Hollywood comedy "My Cousin Vinny" for a Hindi remake starring Govinda and Lara Dutta.

Contrast this to earlier Bollywood films.

When Govinda played a lying lawyer forced to tell the truth in David Dhawan's "Kyunki Main Jhooth Nahin Bolta", a remake of the Jim Carrey comedy "Liar Liar", there was no question of copyright infringement.

Even Govinda's latest release, David Dhawan's smash hit "Partner", is a raunchy rip-off of the Will Smith starrer "Hitch".

Says Ravi: "Though it's loosely inspired by 'My Cousin Vinny' (directed by Jonathan Lynn featuring Joe Pesci as a struggling lawyer fighting to free his cousin), we've acquired copyrights for the remake. If we're making a film about the prevalence of the legal system and how the wronged can be subjected to untold harassment if the right legal advice isn't provided to them, then it was only right that we do the legally correct thing by buying the original's right."

Ravi's banner B.R Films is no stranger to films about the legal system.

In 1960, Ravi's illustrious father B.R. Chopra had a made a song-less drama "Kanoon" about the loopholes in our judiciary.

"The Govinda film cannot be song-less. It's an out-and-out comedy, but with a pungent justice-delayed-justice-denied message under the fun veneer," Ravi told IANS. Shooting starts this month.

This startling move to beat Bollywood's reputation of plagiarism is in direct contrast to the random aping that's been going on for decades. Even the Chopra banner had appropriated the sensational rape saga "Lipstick" into the Hindi hit "Insaaf Ka Tarazu" in 1980 without bothering with copyright laws.

Now even when Karan Johar uses a part of an American song "Pretty Woman" in "Kal Ho Na Ho" he makes sure money goes into the proper hands.

--- IANS

My Cousin Vinny is fucking awesome. Remaking a chunk of horse-shit such as Hitch is fine and well, but, somehow, I don't like the idea of an adaptation of Vinny...