The Dark Tower is one of the major Hollywood releases in India this week, and it is a science fantasy thriller with some great VFX and action sequences. Idris Elba plays the lead in the Movie, of that of a gunslinger from an alternate universe out to save the Earth. Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey plays the man antagonist in the movie, the mysterious Man in Black. For the uninitiated, The Dark Tower is actually adapted from a series of novels that have been written by the legendary Stephen King.

Now if you are a book reader, you know that Stephen King is considered to be a legend when it comes to fiction, especially horror. However, Many of his stories and books have been translated into movies, the most popular ones being The Shining, IT, The Mist, Pet Sematary etc. However, for some unknown reason, Stephen King’s stories are never considered plots worth exploring in Bollywood. It’s a little strange, because even if you discount his horror works (because for Bollywood, horror means Vikram Bhatt), some of his best works did not involve spooky stuff, case in point, the five below movie adaptations. If Bollywood ever remade these five movies, we have some possible casting suggestions too.

Misery

Despite having no supernatural elements, Misery is one of the scariest movies made on a Stephen King story. It stars James Caan as a popular author who gets incapacitated in a road accident and is saved by a nurse, who brings him home to take care of him. The good news is that she is a huge fan of his works. The bad news is she is a terrifying psycho who wants him to write the next novel the way she wants. And when he tries to escape, she has his knee caps broken! Brrrr!

Kathy Bates won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie. Misery was remade in Tamil as Julie Ganapathy with Jairam and

Possible contenders for the remake: Sridevi for Kathy Bates, and Arjun Rampal for James Caan’s character

The Green Mile

A heartwarming tale with certain supernatural elements. Tom Hanks plays the warden of a prison, where death row inmates are kept before they are killed. To his surprise, the latest inmate happens to be a giant of man, who is accused of raping and killing two young girls. However, as the warden knows the new inmate better, he finds the man to be very gentle and is in fact wrongly accused of the crime. Moreover, he also has certain magical healing powers.

Possible contenders for the remake: Aamir Khan for Tom Hanks, Sanjay Dutt for Michael Clarke Duncan’s roles. While we are at it, why not have Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the role of Sam Rockwell’s psychotic criminal, who actually murdered those kids?

The Shawshank Redemption

Considered as one of the best Hollywood movies ever made (with an IMDB rating of 9.3, no less), The Shawshank Redemption is a gritty but ultimately uplifting tale of survival and escape from dire circumstances. It is about a young man who is wrongly accused of killing his wife and sent to prison, where he is tortured and even raped by other inmates. However, the fire of freedom in his heart shines brighter every day, as he plans the best jail escape ever, all alone.

Possible contenders for the remake: Rajkummar Rao for Tim Robbins’ role, definitely. I can’t see anyone else other than Nana Patekar to take on the role of Morgan Freeman, who plays the hero’s friend, a fellow inmate as well as the narrator of the movie.

Stand By Me

One of my favourite movies from the ’80s was just about a bunch of boys taking a walking tour to see a corpse of a boy rumoured to be lying near the railway tracks in the forest. However, that walk makes them re-evaluate their friendship as well give them the confidence to take on life (as well as certain bullies, led by a menacing Kiefer Sutherland).

Possible contenders for the remake: Mostly newbies, but we would like to have Vikramaditya Motwane give the same treatment to the Remake as he did with Udaan.

The Running Man

Based in a dystopian future, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this satirical science fiction thriller. It is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal contestants must escape death at the hands of professional killers.

Possible contenders for the remake: Salman Khan as Arnold Schwarzenegger, oh yes!

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