Mersal is indebted to Kamal Haasan’s Aboorva Sagotharargal, as much as Baahubali to Thevar Magan

The similarities between Aboorva Sagotharargal and Mersal were too many, so everybody was quick to point them out. For starters, Aboorva Sagotharargal is about the identical twins, who are separated at birth. One seeks to avenge the killing of his father, while the other gets in trouble for the crimes committed by his twin. The twins reunite towards the end and make their enemies pay for their sins. This is also the basic premise of Mersal.

But, Atlee is not alone. There have been blockbuster films in the past that owes so much to pouplar older films. Most of the filmmakers have gotten away without much scrutiny, unlike Atlee.

Director SS Rajamouli’s all-time blockbuster Baahubali: The Beginning has deep imprints of Kamal Haasan’s classic Thevar Magan. The 1992 film follows the enmity between two brothers set in a village backdrop.

Chinna Thevar of Thevar Magan and Bijjaladeva of Baahubali are identical characters

In Baahubali franchise, Periya Thevar’s equivalent role was Maharaja Vikramadeva, while Chinna Thevar was Bijjaladeva (Nassar). The filmmakers did not even change the characterization of Bijjaladeva, who had a crippled left-hand. Which was similar to Chinna Thevar’s, who had a non-functioning left-hand due to paralysis. It had Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas) and Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati) instead of Saktivel (Kamal) and Maya Thevar (Nassar). Both the films revolves around family feuds that are fuelled by jealousy and treacherous. These films had family members pitted against each other for the sake of power and people’s respect in their territories.

The similarities between characters of SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise and Kamal Haasan’s Thevar Magan

Mani Ratnam’s cult hit Nagayan was inspired by Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. I am Sam inspired director AL Vijay to make Deiva Thirumagal, and the list goes on. In fact, Kamal wrote Thevar Magan in seven days drawing inspiration from Girish Karnad’s Kannada film Kaadu (1973).

Director Venkat Prabhu tweeted about Mersal this: “#Thalabathy all da way! #mersal a festival treat!Awesomely adapted and presented by Atlee!! Whatta production value!! #panjusaar ku credit?!(sic)” His post was seen as a sarcastic comment passed on Atlee for drawing heavily from Aboorva Sagotharargal.

But, Venkat himself has indulged in such practice for his films. His 2008 film Saroja was based on director Stephen Hopkins’s Judgment Night.

Atlee was not the first director to make a film (Raja Rani) about unhappy couples and he won’t be the last. Theri won’t be the last film that had a cop protagonist, who lost his family fighting crimes and seeks redemption. Or Mersal won’t be the last film that will have a “mass” hero playing a triple role with a revenge story at its heart.

Mersal was not as good as Aboorva Sagotharargal. And it is far from perfect. (I found it far better than Vijay’s previous two films Theri and Bairavaa) But, it was entertaining as hell.

There is nothing wrong in adapting a work that was done before and building upon it. Many filmmakers terribly fail in doing justice to the original work. A few filmmakers succeeded in retelling and reimagining a narration better than the works that inspired them.

Between two opposite ends of the spectrum, lies directors like Atlee, whose works are neither lousy nor perfect.