Bollywood Directors' Muses

You might have heard of how Hollywood bosses like Scorcese or Ridley Scott spend whole years pouring over books as part of their research for their next movie. Well, have you ever wondered where our Indian directors get their inspiration from? Well, I have on several occasions. Usually my head is rife with such pondering when I storm out of a movie half way.

I did some googling and here are my findings.

Karan Johar got his inspiration for 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', a love triangle in which a little girl possessed by her dead mother's spirit urges her father to track down the retarded girl he was friends with in the old asylum where he was being treated for dementia, from a very profound literary piece. No, no...not Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Sartre...something far more profound...'Archie Double Digest'. No kidding. He admitted this in an interview for the programme, 'Bollywood Bosses' on History Channel.

Well thats all I was able to dig up to substantiate with authentic references. However I think I can reckon for myself what books some of our directors must have read for their inspiration...

Om Shanti Om ( Farah Khan )- Another horror (of a) film...horrific storyline...horrendous acting...plenty of spirits running wild as in the aforementioned movie. Inspiration: Tinkle Digest (Collector's Edition). In fact her next movie is probably inspired from the big book of Baby names that Sharukh Khan gifted her (really!) which he himself didn't bother reading. Farah Khan was raving about it, the first book she read in the last 12 years. I have a feeling that a remake of 'Amar Akbar Antony' is in the offing.

Lage Raho Munnabhai (Rajkumar Hirani) - Inspired by 'Gandhi for Kids' by Vikas Publications. I'd rather not rip on this film too much. Wasn't so bad after all.

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (Karan Johar) A sob story that is second only to his best sob story...Kabhi Kush Kabhi Gham. Inspiration: Onions by Glover Brian (apparently Karan Johar trying to don the intellectual hat after all the 'reads-only-comics' accusations levelled at him. Refer above passages.)

Krish (Rakesh Roshan) Inspiration: Chacha Choudhary Comics....that wasn't too hard to guess right, though one would think the Phantom series to be a likely contender too. Yet Rakesh Roshan clears it with his emphatic 'Indian Hero' harp.