I totally forgot I wrote this post, and then some nice Cyrillic using reader posted a link to it on a message board which reminded me of it.  And it’s brilliant!  I agree with everything I said!  And Star Wars is back in the news, so I might as well put it up again for us all to appreciate and discuss.

No need to worry about the plot, we just take the original trilogy, smash it into one three hour plus film.  Get rid of the sci-fi stuff, because I don’t think that works as well in India.  Make it fantastical instead, Bahubali style.  Otherwise, same-to-same.  Luke is a lost warrior raised on a farm, Leia is his secret sister, Obi Wan Kenobi is his mentor, Han Solo is a smuggler, Darth Vader is evil, plot happens.

Casting, that’s where we can have the debates!  And this is such a timeless story, I really feel like it would work in any era.  So let’s do it decade by decade/language by language!

1950s:

Luke: Dilip Kumar (has a kind of innocent demeanor, good with a sword)

Leia: Nargis (Classy, confident, powerful)

Han Solo: Dev Anand (cool kind of bad boy vibe)

OR Raj Kapoor (crazy chemistry with Nargis, could also be bad when he wanted to, their swimsuit scene in Awara is basically a Leia-Han scene already)

Obi Wan: Ashok Kumar (older, wise, had a real life mentor relationship with Dilip)

Darth Vader: Prithviraj Kapoor (Screen presence like you wouldn’t believe!  Plus, very tall.  And a great voice)

1960s:

Luke: Rajesh Khanna (Young Rajesh Khanna would make the sexiest innocent farm boy ever!)

Leia: Sharmila Tagore (Confident, cool, able to give back as much as she got)

Han Solo: Shammi Kapoor (he just doesn’t care about anything!)

Obi Wan: Ashok Kumar (still totally able to pull it off well into the 60s)

Darth Vader: Pran (he can play anything)

1970s:

Luke: Amitabh (not even going to bother explaining, this casting is so clearly right)

Leia: Hema Malini (ditto)

Han Solo: Dharmendra (ditto)

 

Obi Wan: Pran! (he can still play anything)

Darth Vader: Sanjeev Kumar (he can play anything too)

1980s:

Luke: Anil Kapoor (It’s Anil Kapoor!  How could you not?)

Leia: Dimple (Mature, confident, very cool)

Han Solo: Sunny Deol (cool, strong, great chemistry with Dimple)

Obi Wan: Shammi Kapoor (doing character roles in his older years, couldn’t move very well, but still had such great presence!)

Darth Vader: Danny Danzongpa (it’s the 80s, it’s always Danny Danzongpa)

1990s:

Luke: Salman Khan (Salman in Maine Pyar Kiya mode is a perfect Luke)

Leia: Sridevi (I was going to put her in the 80s until I remembered Dimple, but she was still acting in the 90s, so this works)

Han Solo: Anil Kapoor (I’m open to suggestions, but he had such great chemistry with Sridevi, and he was kind of in a Tapoori bad boy mode in the 90s)

Obi Wan: Anupum Kher! The perfect Obi Wan!

Darth Vader: Amrish Puri!  The perfect Darth Vader!  This may be my favorite cast

2000s:

Luke: Hrithik

Leia: Priety Zinta

Han Solo: Shahrukh

Obi Wan: Amitabh

Darth Vader: Amitabh in a clever double role!

And finally, 2010s:

Luke: Ranbir Kapoor

Leia: Kareena Kapoor (clever, right?)

Han Solo: Ranveer Singh maybe?

Obi Wan: Shahrukh

Darth Vader: Amitabh!

 

 

Now, the real challenge, Southern!!!!

Tamil 80s:

Luke: Kamal Haasan

Leia: Sridevi

Han Solo: Rajnikanth

Obi Wan: Major Sundarrajan

Darth Vader: Major Sundarrajan in a clever double role

 

Tamil 2000s:

Luke: Madhavan

Leia: Jyothika

 

Han Solo: Ajith

Obi Wan: Kamal Haasan

Darth Vader: Rajnikanth

 

Malayalam 90s:

Luke: Mohanlal

Leia: Revathy (love her!  And the same height as Carrie Fisher)

 

Han Solo: Mammootty

Obi Wan: Thilakan

Darth Vader: Also Thilakan! In a clever double role.

 

Malayalam Today:

Luke: Dulquer

Leia: Nazriya Nizam

Han Solo: Nivin Pauly

Obi Wan: Mohanlal

Darth Vader: Mammootty

 

Telugu 90s:

Luke: Prabhudeva (not in love with this, open to suggestions)

Leia: Tabu

Han Solo: Nagarjuna!

 

Obi Wan: Nasser

Darth Vader: ANR

 

Telugu Today:

Luke: Naga Chaitanya

Leia: Nithya Menon

Han Solo: Allu Arjun

Obi Wan: Sathyaraj

Darth Vader: Nagarjuna

 

So, which is your favorite?  What changes would you make?