The literary roots of lost-and-found films

Alexandre Dumas was among the most prolific French writers of the 19th century. While The Count of Monte Cristo ranks among the finest novels in the revenge genre, The Three Musketeers and its trademark dialogue, "All for one and one for all", are to this day celebrated as an expression of true friendship.

However, a brilliant idea from his relatively lesser-known novella, The Corsican Brothers sustains his legacy even beyond literary circles.

Humorous literature about identical twins with dissimilar character traits is not new. William Shakespeare’s classic The Comedy of Errors, where mistaken identities lead to slapstick comedy, is a testament to the genre’s popularity.

The lost-and-found theme is common in these plots — the twins are separated early and then united. To dramatise the plot, they feature contrasting characters raised in different socio-economic circumstances.

The theme recurs in films because of the potential for drama and humour. Some popular Indian films in the genre are, Ramudu Bheemudu (Telugu), Daari Tappida Maga’(Kannada), Ram Aur Shyam, Seeta Aur Geeta, Kishan Kanhaiya, and Chaal Baaz (all Hindi). However, Dumas’ narrative stands out for its spectacular specificity.

The Brothers syndrome

Published in 1844, The Corsican Brothers, features a set of look-alike, conjoined twins, separated at birth using a scalpel. They continue to feel each other’s physical and moral pain and can identify the other’s predicaments even when they are miles away from each other.

The brothers bear distinct characteristics. While one is a soft-spoken, studious lawyer, the other is a pugnacious Corsican with a penchant for action. The lawyer’s death in a duel in Paris forces his twin to seek revenge. It is a simple, linear plot.

The psychological idea of one of the twins feeling the other’s pain — popularly called the Corsican syndrome or the psychic link syndrome — has found traction in world cinema and occasionally in Indian films.

There have been several adaptations in Hollywood, and some have taken artistic liberties. While Start The Revolution Without Me (1970) and ‘Cheech and Chong’s The Corsican Brothers’ (1984) were parodies, the 1985 Trevor Eve-starrer is perhaps the closest to the original, retaining the plot’s basic elements. However, this takes a romantic angle absent in the original. The 1992 Hong Kong film, Twin Dragons, starring Jackie Chan, is also based on this syndrome.

Indianised versions

Most Indian films based on the template are inspired by the 1941 version of ‘The Corsican Brothers’. Here, two brothers of royal lineage separated at birth, later unite to fight the enemy. However, the sub-plot involves a triangle where the brothers fall for the same girl.

This sub-template is fundamentally different from the original as Dumas didn’t create any internal contradiction between the twins. However, this deviation, superimposed to serve commercial compulsions, suited Indian audiences who thrive on emotional roller-coasters. The Tamil film ‘Apoorva Sagodharagal’ (1949) is a direct adaptation of the 1941 version.

‘Neerum Neruppum’ (Tamil) starring MGR and Jayalalitha, borrowed the same template with a slight change — one of the twins is dark-skinned because of a blood disorder. This was remade in Hindi as Gora Aur Kala (1972). The exception to this sub-template is NTR’s Aggi Pidugu (Telugu) which has two heroines and a linear plot.

However, influenced by the success of Twin Dragons, all its Indian remakes -- Judwa (Hindi), Hello Brothers (Telugu) and Cheluva (Kannada) featured two heroines and a lighter storyline.

What works in India?

In India, the typical lost-and-found films have a big edge over the Corsican template, both in popular appeal and box office success. For instance, ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, also released in 1972, outscored Gora Aur Kala at the box office. Interestingly, both films featured Hema Malini. A plausible explanation for the choice could be the inherent tragic pull in the Corsican template that discouraged the average fun-loving Indian audience.

Notably, the traditional lost-and-found template —with one sibling timid and the other brave, and the two changing characters later—is incompatible with the original idea. Also, in the 1960s and ’70s, template films — rich boy-poor girl, poor boy-rich girl and lost-and-found — worked wonders at the box office. Blindly rehashing the idea -- as tried in Judwaa 2 (2017) -- might not work fully but an intelligent spin and careful reworking of the psychic link syndrome may work all over again.