The reptile helps the hero show off his machismo to the woman he is saving, while also alerting viewers to the dangers in nature.<\/b>
\nBejoy Nambiar\u2019s Tu Yaa Main, starring Adarsh Gourav and Shanaya Kapoor, is an official Hindi adaptation of the Thai hit The Pool (2018). The February 13 release sees a crocodile attacking our content creator protagonists. A simple collaboration fuelled by romance and passion becomes a battle for survival.
It\u2019s hardly the first time a crocodile has tested the resolve and courage of humans. One of the best-known human-versus-crocodile battles is arguably Rakesh Roshan\u2019s Khoon Bhari Maang (1988), in which Rekha\u2019s heroine is nearly mauled to death after being thrown into a croc-infested river, only to survive and return for revenge.
The blockbuster spawned remakes in Odia, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, even inspiring the Pakistani production Jungle Queen (2000). The trailer of Tu Yaa Main includes a reference to Khoon Bhari Maang.
The movie that inspired Tu Yaa Main is part of a healthy subset of Thai films about crocodiles. This could be attributed to the popularity of the Thai folktale of Kraithong and Chalawan, in which the merchant Kraithong defeats the shapeshifting crocodile lord Chalawan. Among the adaptation of this legend is reputed creature feature director Sompote Sands\u2019s Chalawan (1972).
Chalawan is now considered a lost film. Sands directed other films on the subject, such as Kraithong (1980) and Kraithong II (1985). Crocodile (1979), about two doctors hunting the beast that killed their fiancees, had nods to Jaws and Godzilla and made Sands internationally famous.
The story of Kraithong and Chalawan is still alive in Thai popular culture \u2013 a television series on the subject came out as recently as 2024. The folktale also inspired productions in other southeast Asian countries.
Cambodian filmmaker Hui Keung\u2019s The Crocodile Man (1972) tweaks the original folktale. Kraithong and Chalawan are students of the same master. Chalawan ends up becoming a shapeshifting crocodile and punishes those who have wronged him.
Indonesia produced Ratu Buaya Putih aka The White Crocodile Queen (1988), starring Indonesian Scream Queen Suzzanna. It is both a horror film and a creature feature where a shapeshifting crocodile and her human sister hunt down her parents\u2019 killer.
Hong Kong has Crocodile River (1965), a joint production with Thailand, and Crocodile Evil (1986), which fuses black magic with animal violence. China too has contributed to the croc canon.
In these films, the crocodiles emerge out a shared cultural memory. They aren\u2019t merely wild creatures to be feared. They are shapeshifters, kings or even spiritual beings that challenge the protagonists.
In Indian films, by contrast, the sharp-toothed reptile is there merely to create obstacles for the hero and help him show off his machismo to the woman he is saving, while also alerting viewers to the dangers that lurk in nature.
In the 1950s and 1960s, action star Dara Singh fought not only mythological beings but also animals, including a crocodile in King Kong (1962). In Tarzan Comes to Delhi (1965), Singh\u2019s character evades the reptiles by taking a lift from a hippopotamus to escape their attack.
In Zimbo Finds a Son (1966) from the popular Zimbo series directed by Homi Wadia, Zimbo\u2019s adopted son saves Zimbo\u2019s mate from a crocodile.
Jungle adventures such as Adventures of Tarzan (1985), the Kannada cult classic Africadalli Sheela (1986), Jungle Love (1990) and Safari (1999) all have the hero rescuing the heroine from crocodiles.
Even Amitabh Bachchan tamed crocodiles in Shaan (1980) and Ganga Jamuna Saraswati (1988). In the Indo-Bangladesh production Onnai Obichar (1985) \u2013 released as Aar Par in Hindi \u2013 the villain (Utpal Dutt) tries to finish off the hero (Mithun Chakraborty) by feeding him to crocodiles.
Most of the crocodiles used in these films were props made out of rubber or wood. Clever editing that integrated footage filched from Hollywood films brought the reptiles to life, thus heightening the sense of danger and spectacle.
There were exceptions to the crocodile\u2019s negative image. In Jungle Beauty (1991), the crocodile protects a treasure and mauls the villains to death. In 1989, renowned herpetologist and conservationist Romulus Whitaker produced and directed Mudhalai aka Dost Magarmach for Children\u2019s Film Society of India.
In Mudhalai, Ramu takes care of a pregnant crocodile who has taken shelter in a forest near his village. When the villagers want to kill the crocodile, Ramu and his sister save her with the help of a sympathetic ghatam player.
While Tu Yaa Main is pitching itself as a rom-com survival thriller, it won\u2019t be the first time that lovers battled a crocodile. In the Malayalam-language Crocodile Love Story (2013), a crocodile stalks a couple on the run.
According to reports, Tu Yaa Main uses both a live crocodile and animatronic models. Depending on its reception, crocodiles might get another shot at survival in Bollywood.<\/p>\n