If you are into watching Indian cinema made in regional languages then you must be familiar with the name of director Jeethu Joseph. And even if you are not aware of the name, you would have surely seen his recent must watch thrillers as MEMORIES, DRISHYAM, PAPANASAM and OOZHAM in particular.
So, keeping in mind this track record, the news of Jeethu Joseph remaking Spanish writer-director Oriol Paulo’s first mainstream film THE BODY in Hindi was enough to make me excited. And I was damn sure that Jeethu is going to come up with a brilliant adaptation of the original, may be incorporating some new twists in it too as seen in his earlier ventures. Some fresh additions were also expected as the Spanish film did have some loose ends in its mystery waiting to be taken care of in a re-written version.
The trailer of THE BODY (in Hindi) kept the expectations alive but what I witnessed as the complete film was nothing less than a severe unbelievable shock coming from an otherwise highly reliable and talented writer-director.
In short, neither I expected such a dull, lifeless and poor remake of the original Spanish film from Joseph, nor imagined names like Rishi Kapoor enacting in a strange casual and uninteresting manner as never before. Moreover, had no idea that Jeethu will be adding 3-4 love songs in this kind of a tension filled murder mystery too reminding you of the typical Mahesh Bhatt kind of productions featuring Emraan Hashmi, who yet again tries his best in a similar role along with Sobhita Dhulipala and Vedika.
Putting it differently, whether you watch it as a stand-alone new release or a remake of a foreign thriller you have already seen, THE BODY falls flat right from the beginning and the execution never pulls you in throughout the less than two hours of its duration. Besides the completely unpredictable climax happens so fast that it leaves you puzzled instead of shocked and you never feel seeing anything worth the money and time spent. An uninterestingly adapted and conceived film, it also has some weird dialogues like a wife saying to her husband, “Aaj Ki Raat Tum Sirf Mere Ho”.
To be honest, THE BODY yet again made me feel sad and pity for friends who will be watching this lousy Hindi remake instead or before the worth-watching and superior original Spanish film - the exact feeling I had after watching Sujoy Ghosh’s BADLA. Interestingly BADLA was also an official remake of the most acclaimed Spanish film of the same writer-director titled THE INVISIBLE GUEST.
In all, if possible, watch the Spanish film THE BODY with English subtitles searching it on the net. And in case you are not interested, then skip watching THE BODY in Hindi too and do yourself a favour. Because who knows tomorrow you might be interested in watching the original and then your experience of watching something worth will not get ruined.
Giving it a second thought, many still might find it just okay while watching it on the online portals after a month or so (as usual) because there a film is seen with a completely different mindset without buying the costly ticket in the comfort of home. And therefore even mediocre or poor films look like a good time pass doing multitasking.
It’s truly a sad creative tragedy, that a well-made foreign language film, when gets remade in Hindi, turns out to be this kind of poor avoidable thriller getting such low ratings. Personally speaking, after watching THE BODY, I am forced to strongly doubt that was this film really written and directed by the same Jeethu Joseph behind MEMORIES, DRISHYAM and PAPANASAM?
Rating : 1.5 / 5
