I have been rereading Hamlet and reading some criticism of it, and I am planning to watch a screening of the new performance starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
And this made me realize that the movie Karz (this Wikipedia entry is hilarious, btw) is a sort of retelling of Hamlet, or at least draws on the play.
Hear me out. It has a murdered 'king' (he didn't seem to rule anything but his widow styles herself Rani Sahiba) -- whose partner betrays and murders him because she is working for his father's old business partner (so sort of his uncle? not brother, but definitely usurper of his estate?). (Fine, Gertrude doesn't murder Hamlet Senior, but bear with me here.) She and erstwhile biz pard then usurp the estate.
The dead man comes back not as a ghost but as a reincarnation of himself. So Hamlet Senior and Junior in one. He grows up and comes back to his hometown and then is revisited by his past life's memories (aka ghost).
He scrapes acquaintance with the Rani Sahiba (who is now some twenty years older than him) and flirts shamelessly with her. Strike shamelessly -- she was his wife after all. But anyway, he's definitely got some leftover lusty feelings for her, despite his sedate courting of stupid little TinaMunimcharacterwhosenameIcantbebotheredtolookup.
By the way, was there ever a more vampy name than Kamini? Why would anyone name their daughter that: unless you are/she is a Veela. (Um, apologies if you or your best friend is named Kamini. It's a lovely name, really.)
But the most obvious debt to Hamlet is of course, that awesome song+theater performance where RishiKapoorHamlet enacts the story of his past life-holder's death with his girlfriend's help and KaminiSimiGarewal totally looks guilty.
Let me leave you with that.
And this made me realize that the movie Karz (this Wikipedia entry is hilarious, btw) is a sort of retelling of Hamlet, or at least draws on the play.
Hear me out. It has a murdered 'king' (he didn't seem to rule anything but his widow styles herself Rani Sahiba) -- whose partner betrays and murders him because she is working for his father's old business partner (so sort of his uncle? not brother, but definitely usurper of his estate?). (Fine, Gertrude doesn't murder Hamlet Senior, but bear with me here.) She and erstwhile biz pard then usurp the estate.
The dead man comes back not as a ghost but as a reincarnation of himself. So Hamlet Senior and Junior in one. He grows up and comes back to his hometown and then is revisited by his past life's memories (aka ghost).
He scrapes acquaintance with the Rani Sahiba (who is now some twenty years older than him) and flirts shamelessly with her. Strike shamelessly -- she was his wife after all. But anyway, he's definitely got some leftover lusty feelings for her, despite his sedate courting of stupid little TinaMunimcharacterwhosenameIcantbebotheredtolookup.
By the way, was there ever a more vampy name than Kamini? Why would anyone name their daughter that: unless you are/she is a Veela. (Um, apologies if you or your best friend is named Kamini. It's a lovely name, really.)
But the most obvious debt to Hamlet is of course, that awesome song+theater performance where RishiKapoorHamlet enacts the story of his past life-holder's death with his girlfriend's help and KaminiSimiGarewal totally looks guilty.
Let me leave you with that.
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