POPTIQUE'S BATTLE OF THE BONDALIKES

Part Two - Mr Bond, another Bollywood Bond (dir Raj N. Sippy 1992)

Since we're currently mired in the murky waters of Bollywood Bondalikes, let's set our collective peepers on another, namely the 1992 action-thriller Mr Bond, starring Ashkay Kumar as a day-glo detective.

With none of the visual panache or suave suits of Agent Vinod and an even skimpier budget, Mr Bond takes the unexpected approach of ripping off the regularly ignored unofficial Connery entry, Never Say Never Again - itself a barely disguised remake of Thunderball. In fact, the opening scene is lifted directly from the 1983 original, albeit minus the earbleeingly awful Lani Hall theme song.



Don't take my word for it - have a peek at Sean himself in similar action - charitably rescored by the mysterious ManWithNoMoney to fit in with the rest of the Bond series (although why he chose to use sections of David Arnold's score instead of the classier John Barry originals is perhaps a bigger mystery).



Gluttons for punishment can view the original cut here.

Mr Bond doesn't only nab scenes wholesale from unofficial Bond movies, but from the genuine article too, as witnessed by this sequence lopped straight out of The Man with The Golden Gun.



Previously available on DVD from Eros International, Mr Bond now seems to be out of print and unavailable, but for sheer barefaced Bondalike cheek scores 003 out of 007 on the Poptique Bondometer. A review of the film can be gawped at by clicking here.