Yet Another Godfather Remake

Like me, if any of you watch ETV Bangla in your homes, you must be watching this new tele-serial "Dhoop Chhaya" or "Sun and Shade" the latest remake of "The Godfather". Since Francis Ford Coppola made his classic mafia-gangster movie trilogy and created film making history, there has been several attempts to make films inspired by these great classics. Ram Gopal Verma made his Sarkar and Sarkar Raj adapted directly from the Coppola classics with the Bachchan father son duo - Amitabh and Abhishek. And now ETV Bangla is doing their share - "Dhoop Chhaya" a new tele-serial directed by Debangshu Sengupta and produced by Atanu Roy.
The story revolves around the mafia family of Raghuram Pathak (Don) whose hot headed son Uday Pathak (Sonny) and the more refined Parashar Pathak (Michael) rule the Kolkata underworld. The opening episode looked so much like that of the opening sequence of Godfather (I) that I expected to see a shot by shot remake. The serial even has the family counsel Tom Hagen's (Robert Duvall) character is played in this serial by Saswato Chatterjee. However, the serial has now taken its own twists and turns, and like most serials, the believability of these plot twists are questionable. But overall, the serial has the intensity to keep the viewers glued to the screen. The acting overall is at par and in some instances, quite good.
Another positive aspect of this serial is the presence of some fresh new faces. It often becomes tiring to see the same faces in all serials. Sometimes it becomes difficult to figure out what serial is on - the same actors acting out similar characters in similar story lines. It seems the actors are not at all concerned about over exposure and how it can damage their career as well as the viewership of these serials. Kolkata never lacked in acting talent and we the viewers would like to see fresh talent on our screens. I hope the producers will take notice of this issue.