Producer Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra takes a plunge in the west with Broken Horses, an English adaptation of his 1989 hit Parinda. The result is a mixed bag, some of it is satisfying while the rest doesn’t quite rise above the ordinary at times. Set on the U.S.- Mexico border, he along with co-writer Abhijat Joshi serves us a modern day western .

…a Vidhu Vinod Chopra Bollywood film with Hollywood actors and settings. It is grim, dark, violent and sporadically powerful, yet too sentimental and emotionally manipulative for its own good.

With the showboating Broken Horses, he joins the growing herd of Indian cinema’s finest filmmakers who surprisingly find more merit in adapting and remaking old literary and film works. Perhaps it’s time to stop romanticizing the past, and create a more original legacy-original stories, new visions, enduring cinematic memories that can be frequented with admiration by future generations. Instead of recreating Parinda, perhaps it is time for someone to create a new Parinda.

If Broken Horses was supposed to be Parinda for Hollywood, the passion, emotion, guilt, love and redemption should all have been there, the songs could have been taken out (even the melodic Tumse Milke, sigh). Or Chopra should have made a completely different film. This straddling of stools always runs the risk of falling in between.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s film borrows most of its plot from Parinda, which is indeed one of the greatest films in the history of Indian cinema. Hence, Broken Horses can be treated as a one-time watch, just to relive Parinda. On a broader note, you can take a filmmaker out of Bollywood, but cannot take Bollywood out of him.

Films are just another form of art. They benefit from the inspirations and enthusiasm of their creator. Like any other form of art, they can suffer if the vision is skewered or contrived. In his ambitious Hollywood foray, Vidhu Vinod Chopra wanted to prove that Indian filmmakers are better than just song and dance junkies. That we can match Hollywood’s game in their playing field. And therein lies the biggest flaw. Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery. But end of the day, flattery is also described as pleasing self-deception.

Broken Horses comes across as Parinda, with non-Indian actors. But then, while Parinda was a brilliant film, given its context and milieu, this one doesn’t impress as much. Watch it if you’re keen on seeing what the first Hollywood film written,directed and produced by an Indian filmmaker is like. Else, hire a DVD and re-watch Parinda.

For those who haven’t watched Parinda, Broken Horses could perhaps be a moving, serious watch. But for those who have already been blown away by Chopra’s original, Broken Horses pales in comparison…

Broken Horses is a stellar attempt by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The story is simple, but with the grandeur of Hollywood. If you are into crime thrillers, Broken Horses can be an easy watch this weekend.

Well mounted with good production and technical values, the film has an inexplicable gentleness to the narration, very characteristic of Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It will appeal to the emotionally inclined.