Remakes as translation: A case study of the Indian remake of the Mind Your Language series

Remakes have been a global phenomenon in the entertainment industry for a long time. Though language and translation are key components of a remake, research from the perspectives of language and audio-visual translation in the case of remakes has been petit. Aiming to fill the existing gaps in research, this paper examines the instantiations of remakes as instantiations of audio-visual translation and Adaptation Studies. It offers to comprehensively study remakes from the standpoint of audio-visual translation by drawing similarities and dissimilarities between them as a suitable theoretical issue within the ambit of Adaptation Studies. Specifically, it focuses on Zabaan Sambhal Ke the Indian remake of Mind Your Language, an internationally renowned sitcom remade into ten languages and eleven countries. In India, the Hindi remake of this British sitcom appeared in two phases with slight variations in the spelling of the title; Zabaan Sambhalke in 1993-94 having 54 episodes and Zaban Sambhal Ke in 1997-98 having 52 episodes. The IMDb ratings of 8.5 for the Mind Your Language series and 8.1 for the Zaban Sambhal Ke series point to interesting aspects about not only the popularity among the viewers but also the remaking i.e., audio-visual translation of the series. The English and Hindi versions of the sitcom selected for study in this paper have anchored their comic contents in language use, socio-cultural gaps and translation in a classroom representing linguistic and cultural diversities. The data for this paper comes from the episodes of both sitcoms. The main axes of discussions in this paper include points for grounding remakes in audio-visual translation, disciplinary comparison between audio-lingual translation and Adaptation Studies, instances of internationally acclaimed remakes of TV series and the linguistic and socio-cultural intricacies involved in the success or failure of the remake activities.