Did You Know A National Award-Winning Film Starring Nana Patekar Was Remade In Hollywood With Vincent D'Onofrio?

Parinda's Hollywood remake is a rare example of Bollywood inspiring an official Hollywood adaptation. While Hindi cinema has frequently faced accusations of borrowing from Western films, the reverse has happened far less often. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1989 crime drama was one such exception, eventually becoming the American film Broken Horses.

How Parinda became a Hollywood film

Parinda followed brothers Kishen and Karan, played by Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor, whose lives were pulled deeper into the Mumbai underworld. Nana Patekar played Anna, a ruthless gangster whose terrifying presence became one of the film's defining elements. Madhuri Dixit also starred in the film.

The film was both a commercial and critical success. It won two National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards, with Patekar taking home his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. It was also selected as India's official entry for the 1990 Academy Awards.

A Tamil remake, Aasai Thambi, followed in 1998. The more surprising adaptation came in 2012, when Chopra announced plans to remake Parinda for an American audience. Abhijat Joshi wrote the screenplay with Chopra.

Vincent D’Onofrio replaces Nana Patekar

The story was relocated from Mumbai to the American Midwest for Broken Horses. Anton Yelchin and Chris Marquette played the central brothers, while Vincent D’Onofrio took on the role inspired by Nana Patekar's Anna, renamed Julius Hench.

D'Onofrio was already an established actor, known for films including Full Metal Jacket, Men in Black and The Cell. He had also spent a decade playing Detective Robert Goren in Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Two years later, he would become even more recognisable to Marvel audiences as Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, in Daredevil.

The remake also brought together an accomplished technical team. Tom Stern, known for his work with Clint Eastwood, served as cinematographer, while Oscar-nominated composer John Debney created the score.

Broken Horses failed at the box office

Despite the talent involved, Broken Horses failed to connect with audiences. Made on a reported budget of around $15 million, it earned roughly $65,000 in the US and less than ₹1 crore in India.

The film was released on April 10, 2015, 26 years after Parinda. While Broken Horses disappeared quickly, Chopra's original continued to be regarded as a landmark in Hindi crime cinema.