'Radhe' v/s 'The Outlaws': How not to make a remake
Salman Khan aka Bhai's Radhe, which recently released on ZEE5, is touted as the remake of Korean action-thriller The Outlaws. After watching both the movies in their totality (workplace hazards), I would beg to differ. If anything, it's a big lesson on why/how not to make a remake. The Korean film, which is far more logical and well-made, deserved a better remake.
Before ranting on how Radhe did The Outlaws dirty, here's what they got right. Randeep Hooda's hairstyle! The only visible similarity apart from the violence (of course) is the hairstyles of the antagonists of the film. Also, Hooda's acting is on point. Further, the poker face expression of the lead actors resembles (but in Salman's case, there might be some botox involved, just saying).
Probably taking a cue from the attention Mumbai's drug-problem is getting nowadays, Radhe alters the loan-shark/gang-war theme of the original into a drug nexus, whose depiction is rather funny, and not even remotely thought-provoking. The original one has more depth.
Compared to many other Korean movies, The Outlaws is no masterpiece, but Radhe, at times, is too unreal in its portrayal. Sample this: Bhai suddenly breaks the fourth wall to wish Eid Mubarak, and there are more 'Bhai ki entries' than the number of dates his court cases get. (Oops!) Also, the Korean lead is much more human, than Salman's ultra-clean avatar (how ironical).
Hindi films, especially Salman's are incomplete without an arm/eye candy, no matter what the script demands. Disha Patani is that furniture, sorry character in Radhe. She comes wearing skimpiest of clothes, speaks the stupidest dialogues, dances with him and leaves.
Radhe will make you weep for the time wasted and brain cells loss (is lobotomy still legal to scrub this monstrosity from my brain?) Korean original, even though more gory at times, follows some logic, but Radhe only follows Bhai! He and Patani break into a song-and-dance right after hundreds drop dead; he breaks windows by the dozen, fails, and he's still the savior.
The 40-minutes-long climax seems like eternity, where Salman takes law into his hands (talk about real-life inspiration), and instead of putting criminals in jail, kills them with a car in a way that would put Rohit Shetty to shame. The Outlaws climax is crisp, precise and well-conceived. Here, the bad guys are put in jail, city gets cleaned, without any over-the-top stunts or dialogues.
The Outlaws, inspired by real-life events in 2004 Korea, is for action-lovers who like intense stories. The protagonist is a super cop, unlike Salman, who's a flying superhero. Radhe picked the original climax, put it somewhere in the middle along with an item number, and instead made Salman fly a car in its own (Elon Musk might call him soon for tips).
