From Radhe to Bharat, 5 Korean films that Bollywood adapted but shouldnt have

Salman Khan made his direct-to-streaming debut with ‘Radhe‘ yesterday. The film, directed by Prabhu Deva, is a remake of the 2017 Korean thriller ‘The Outlaws’. The original film was a major hit, becoming Korea’s highest-grossing R-rated film. On the other hand, Salman Khan starrer ‘Radhe’ is receiving criticism on social media for poor storyline and disappointing performance.

Also read: After Salman Khan’s ‘Radhe’ streams on pirated sites, actor warns of action

‘Radhe’ is not the first film that is inspired by a Korean plot as time and again, Bollywood has found solace in the successful Korean film industry, especially in genres such as action and crime dramas.

Here’s a list of Korean films that Bollywood has adapted in the past listed by Bollywood Companion.

‘Oldboy’ (2003) and ‘Zinda’ (2006): Park Chan-wook’s ‘Oldboy’ was released to widespread acclaim in 2003. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It was remade by Sanjay Gupta as ‘Zinda’ in 2006. Gupta’s film was an unofficial remake, which led to murmurs of legal trouble from Oldboy’s producers.

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‘My Wife is a Gangster 3’ (2006) and ‘Singh is Bliing’ (2015): ‘Singh is Bliing’ was a remake of ‘My Wife is a Gangster 3’. The Bollywood version was questioned by social media users for inconsistent tone, alternating uncomfortably between silly comedy, action set-pieces and sudden bursts of sentiment. It also got worse by adding a string of random and interchangeable songs.

‘Seven Days’ (2007) and ‘Jazbaa’ (2015): ‘Seven Days’ was a Korean thriller about a lawyer who had never lost a case. After her daughter is kidnapped, she must fulfil the kidnapper’s demands by defending a convicted rapist and granting him bail. The film was a breakthrough lead role for star Yunjin Kim. In 2015, it was remade (officially!) by Sanjay Gupta as ‘Jazbaa’, with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and late Irrfan Khan.

Also read: Salman Khan’s ‘Radhe’ may already be a success, trade calculations say so

‘Montage’ (2013) and ‘Te3n’ (2016): ‘Montage’ focussed on three characters: the detective, the mother of the first kidnapped child, and the grandfather of the second. It was remade as ‘Te3n’, which kept the essential storyline the same but switched up the characters a bit. ‘Te3n’ is certainly not as bad as some of the other remakes on this list but it suffered from far-fetched plotting.

‘Ode to My Father’ (2014) and ‘Bharat’ (2019): ‘Ode to My Father’ was a sweeping tale of a man whose life intertwines with the history of modern Korea. The film had a mixed critical reception in its home country but was enormously popular amongst audiences. In the Indian adaptation, Salman Khan played the lead. The dance numbers, two love interests, and much macho image of Salman took away the crux of the storyline, which was an ode to father.