Bollywood has been accused of ‘copying’ Hollywood films for far too long. There are filmmakers whose filmography sections on Wikipedia have a separate column describing ‘adapted from’, so endemic is this in Hindi cinema. Even today, when studios buy rights for official remakes, Bollywood has often been caught playing catch-up. The reverse – Hollywood remaking a Hindi film – is a rarity. But it did happen in 2015, and it happened with the film that first shot Nana Patekar to stardom in the 80s.
The Nana Patekar classic remade in Hollywood
In 1989, Vidhu Vinod Chopra made Parinda, often regarded as one of the first Bollywood films to set a template for depicting the underworld and gangsters realistically. The film starred Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff as brothers who live and work under Anna (Nana Patekar), a dreaded don. The film, which also starred Madhuri Dixit, was a commercial success with its music becoming quite popular. Tumse Milke, sung by Suresh Wadkar and Asha Bhosle, topped the charts. Critically acclaimed, Parinda went on to win two National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards, and was India’s official selection for the 1990 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Nana Patekar won his first National Award for the film.
In 1998, Parinda was remade in Tamil as Aasai Thambi. But the surprise remake was announced in 2012, when Vidhu Vinod Chopra said he was set to adapt the film for American audiences with a Hollywood cast. Abhijat Joshi co-wrote the screenplay titled Broken Horses. Anton Yelchin and Chris Marquette were cast as the two leads, alongside Vincent D’Onofrio as Julius Hench, this film’s Anna.
All about Broken Horses
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In 1998, Parinda was remade in Tamil as Aasai Thambi. But the surprise remake was announced in 2012, when Vidhu Vinod Chopra said he was set to adapt the film for American audiences with a Hollywood cast. Abhijat Joshi co-wrote the screenplay titled Broken Horses. Anton Yelchin and Chris Marquette were cast as the two leads, alongside Vincent D’Onofrio as Julius Hench, this film’s Anna.
All about Broken Horses
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Deep Dive
What is the significance of Nana Patekar’s role in Parinda?
Nana Patekar’s portrayal of gangster Anna in Parinda set a template for realistic depictions of the underworld in Bollywood, earning him his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Why did Broken Horses, the Hollywood remake of Parinda, fail commercially?
Despite a talented cast and crew, Broken Horses was criticized for being ‘overwrought,’ resulting in a low approval rating and it earned less than $300K globally, marking it as a commercial disaster.
How did Nana Patekar’s early hardships influence his acting career?
Nana Patekar’s difficult childhood shaped his understanding of struggle, which he felt gave him a unique perspective as an actor, allowing him to portray complex characters convincingly.
Set in the American Midwest, Broken Horses was shot in the style of the typical American Westerns with sprawling ranches, cowboys, gunfights, and a signature musical score. Tom Stern, the cinematographer long associated with Clint Eastwood films, was on board, while Oscar-nominated composer John Debney composed the score. Reliance Entertainment and Fox Star Studios came on board to produce and distribute the film worldwide. At 1 hour and 41 minutes, Broken Horses was considerably shorter than Parinda, which ran for almost 2.5 hours.
The biggest casting coup for the film was Vincent D’Onofrio. Even though he was still two years away from playing the Kingpin in the Daredevil series, the actor was already a known and respected name, having worked in Full Metal Jacket, Men In Black, and The Cell. Apart from this, he had spent 10 years starring in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, one of America’s most-watched TV shows. The casting of Anton Yelchin was equally impressive. At the time, only 24, Anton had already starred in the Star Trek reboot and Terminator Salvation.
Broken Horses’ fate
Despite a stacked cast and a competent crew, Broken Horses did not fare well. The critics called it ‘overwrought’, and it has an approval rating of only 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. Made on a modest budget of around $15 million, Broken Horses was a commercial disaster, earning less than ₹1 crore in India and just $65K in the US. Its global ‘haul’ of less than $300K was one of the lowest for a mainstream Hollywood film that year.
Parinda’s legacy
The failure of Broken Horses did not dampen Parinda’s legacy, though. Over the years, it has been included in News18’s 2013 list of the “100 greatest Indian films of all time”, Mint’s list of “70 iconic films of Indian cinema”, Filmfare’s “100 Filmfare Days” series, the “70 iconic movies of independent India” list and the book 100 Bollywood Films by Rachel Dwyer. Filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Nikkhil Advani, and Dibakar Banerjee have credited the film for impacting their journeys. Nana Patekar’s performance has been hailed as one of the first ‘realistic’ depictions of a violent villain in mainstream Hindi cinema.