Informative articles on Hindi films as undisclosed adaptations of some foreign movies is not any new subject in Indian cinema or in Indian film journalism. However it really hurts when it turns out to be one of your favourite films from a director having a reputation, widely known for his innovative and path-breaking attempts in the recent times.
Hence without going into any introductory details of one of the most loved and appreciated films of the last decade JOHNNY GADDAAR (2007) and its talented director Sriram Raghavan, would straight away like to share a detailed synopsis revolving around a betrayal within a gang going for a collective deal of drugs as follows.
“A group of five friendly gangsters collectively own/run a gambling club in the town as a cover for their other dubious activities. Interestingly one of them is also having a hidden affair with the wife of a gangster of the same group (from where the film begins).
The chief of the group gets an inviting offer from a drug peddler/goon, having a good quantity of drugs to sell at half the price, which they in turn can easily sell in double the amount. The group decides to go for the deal and they pool in the money together. One of the members of the group is assigned the duty to travel by train with the cash loaded in a suitcase and bring the drugs.
But at the same time, another member of the group (the one having an affair) decides to steal that entire pooled money and makes a foolproof plan to perform the task. He wears a disguise, takes the same train, kills his own friend/group member and returns to the town with the suitcase full of cash, hiding the money in a secret place in his apartment.
The trouble begins when the remaining three get the news of their friend getting killed and the suitcase with all the cash missing. The killer or the corrupt (Gaddaar) member shows he knows nothing (as he was out of town) but fails to hide the truth from the eldest experienced member of the group (the chief), who catches him in their mutual discussion about the same. The Corrupt decides to kills him on the spot and then further murders the remaining two members too deceiving them all. However in the end he faces the consequences and gets murdered by (hold your breath), the wife of one of the members (not the one he had an affair with) who rightly guesses that it has all been done by him.
Revealing the twists, let’s see how the eldest member of the gang catches the killer's bluff? – He finds it post knowing that the betraying member had complete information of who went to the station to see off the man with the cash, when HE was not supposed to be in the town on that very day.
How another of the remaining two catches the killer's bluff – He gets that through a counterfeit note sent with the stolen cash coming back to him from the Killer friend.
And how the last member catches the bluff – He does that knowing the whereabouts of the killer, through a local town’s newspaper of the date of the incident lying at the back seat of HIS car.”
Amusingly this exact story progression and every twist and turn mentioned in the proceedings above is right there in
JOHNNY GADDAAR released in 2007, but the synopsis is not of
Sriram’s film revealing the shocking and disappointing fact.
The above stated synopsis is actually of a 1963, Black & White French film titled Symphonie Pour Un Massacre aka The Corrupt, which interestingly is also mentioned in JOHNNY GADDAAR’s IMDB page, as the original film from where the entire content has been adapted (as a remake!). Having seen the films, the only changes/additions made in the Hindi movie are the characters of a mother, nurse and the corrupt Police Inspector along with the ‘local newspaper angle’ replaced by a ‘local car-repair’.
Now thinking about the makers of JOHNNY GADDAAR and the director Sriram Raghavan, I did went through many of his interviews and articles including the latest one by Scroll celebrating the 10 years of the film (also featuring director’s short video interview). But unfortunately couldn’t find the original film being mentioned anywhere as the exact source from where the content was adapted as it is, adding many delicious (but deceptive) references of VIJAY ANAND, JAMES HADLEY CHASE, JOHNY MERA NAAM, PARWANA, BANDINI and many more.
However just recently, before the release of his latest must watch offering ANDHADHUN. director confessed about his JOHNNY GADDAAR being based on a novel he had read in his days of studying filmmaking (and not on any film he had seen). But ironically the fact was not mentioned or aknowledged in the film's credits as he rightly did in his BADLAPUR (also based on a novel) and ANDHADHUN (inspired from a short film).
No doubt it was disappointing indeed for me and everyone loving the delightful, entertaining work of the master director.
Concluding the write-up mentioning the original source, Symphonie Pour Un Massacre aka The Corrupt was based or adapted from the novel by Alain Reynaud Fourton titled ‘Les Mystifies’, and the film directed by Jacques Deray has an outstanding background score/theme music too as one of its key features.
Cheers!
(The article was first published at UC News Mobile App in February 2018 and later re-written with additions in September 2018)
