Mohan Kumar Vs James Cameroon

Around 1994 James Cameroon got the idea to make Avtaar, but the idea was put on hold because he had to wait until the technology necessary to create his project was advanced enough. Finally around 2007 they began filming Avtaar and after 2 long years it is now running to packed houses in theatres across the world. Sometimes I really feel these hollywood directors have no vision. How can they wait 15 yrs to make a movie and that too at a budget of over $400M. We Indians are far more futuristic when it comes to making movies. Almost 10 yrs before James Cameroon even thought of making Avtaar, an Indian director by the name of Mohan Kumar had already released his version of Avtaar.

The year was 1983 when a family social drama called Avtaar was released. The film starred Rajesh Khanna in an award winning role, Shabana Azmi and AK Hangal. Rajesh Khanna playes Avtaar Kishan who lives with his wife Radha, two sons Ramesh and Chander and servant Sevak. They lead a poor lifestyle and Rajesh Khanna toils hard in order to earn money so that their children can get good education. One day while working at the factory he meets with an accident and permanently hurts his hand which renders him helpless. They get more and more dependent on their children who are now aspiring to lead a good lifestyle and find their parents a burden on them. As fate would have it, Avtaar, his wife and servant Sevak are forced to leave the house since one of his son has transferred the house to his wife’s name without informing Avtaar. Now the homeless Avtaar Kissan and family are dependent on their servant Sevak for survival. What happens next is quite inspiring and tells us how Avtaar kishan works hard and becomes a rich man and teaches his children a lesson which they will never forget. Its a classic tale of good begets evil shown in full family drama style. Who can forget Rajesh Khanna going to his favourite pan shop and extending his hand for getting the pan. Rajesh Khanna was nominated for best actor that year which he failed to win, however the film remains a classic nevertheless. Hats off to Mohan Kumar the visionary. He didnt need technology to create the masterpeice called Avtaar.

Having seen our own original version of Avtaar, I am waiting to see what different James Cameroon has to offer. I have heard he has made some changes to the script and replaced Rajesh Khanna with some blue coloured aliens. The new movie is made in 3D so that you feel as if you are into the movie, but frankly the original Avtaar was so heart warming that you didnt need to be into the movie, the movie would get into you by the time you finished watching it. So next time you have Avtaar playing on TV, dont miss it.