MUMBAI: Indian film-makers are trying to make Shakespeare hip for young Bollywood audiences with new versions of two of his best-known tragedies.

Scriptwriters are looking to Western classic literature for inspiration for something different. Last year’s top box office hits broke away from traditional song-and-dance Indian movies.

New versions of Othello and Hamlet under development follow the poor box office performance of the 2003 film “Maqbool” — described by critics as Macbeth meets the Godfather — set in modern-day Mumbai, with corrupt policemen taking the role of witches predicting the rise and demise of a gangland leader.

Vishal Bharadwaj, the director of “Maqbool” and currently shooting “Omkara”, India’s Othello, said the British playwright had relevance for modern-day audiences in India.

“I have always been inspired by Shakespeare’s writing. He is a great storyteller and I feel these stories must be told to Indian audiences,” he said.

The movie features three of Bollywood’s hottest stars, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Ajay Devgan.

Film director Onir has just completed the script for his version of Hamlet, although nobody has yet been cast.

Onir, who achieved critical success with a story about Aids in “My Brother... Nikhil” in 2005, is expected to start shooting later this year. The planned movies follow patchy ratings for other movies based on Western literature.

Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” got the Bollywood treatment (“Bride and Prejudice”) in 2004 starring former Miss World Aishwarya Rai. It did reasonable business with overseas Indians but failed at home.

Bollywood is also planning a movie based on Daphne du Maurier’s novel “Rebecca”.

Taran Adarsh, a Bollywood trade analyst, said the industry was uncertain of the recipe for success in the modern market.

“No one knows what will work at the box office today. Producers and distributors are confused about the story line they should have. So you never know, these films can click too.”

The Indian film industry is the world’s largest producer of films with some 1,000 annually but accounts for only one percent of global film industry revenues.—AFP