Kaththi, Srimanthudu, OK Kanmani: Our wishlist for Hindi remakes

There has been a lot of give and take between the two prominent film industries in India. Here’s a list of Tamil and Telugu hits of 2015-16 that are going in for Hindi remakes. We also give your our wishlist.

There was a time when hit Bollywood films of the ’70s and ’80s were remade in one (or more) of four South Indian languages, generally, Tamil and Telugu, to great success. In fact, many of Rajinikanth’s hit films {Don, remade as Billa; Deewar, remade as Thee; Amar Akbar Anthony, remade as Ram Robert Rahim; Kasme Vaade, remade as Dharamathin Thalaivan and Mard, remade as Maaveeran} were remakes of Amitabh Bachchan superhits.

The right of OK Kanmani have been bought by Karan Johar for its Hindi remake.

That changed with the coming of Jeetendra. In his second innings in Bollywood, when he was paired with Sridevi and Jaya Prada, two very successful actors down south. He went on to give hits such as Tohfa (Devata in Telugu), Maqsad (Mundadugu in Telugu) and Himmatwala (Ooriki Monagadu in Telugu), which were all remakes of South Indian hits.

Watch: The ‘other’ Indian beauty: Stunners from regional cinema

Rajinikanth successfully remade Amitabh Bachchan’s hit ’70s film Don as Billa.

Then, there was a lull till the 2000s and again we see a wave of Tamil/Telugu remakes flooding the market.

Pick some of the recent films of actors Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, and chances are that you will find out that many of them are remakes of hit Tamil or Telugu films. Take Salman’s Ready (Ready in Telugu), Bodyguard (Bodyguard in Malayalam) or Kick (Kick in Telugu) or Akshay Kumar’s Boss (remake of Malayalam film Pokkiri Raja), Holiday (remake of Tamil film Thuppakki) or Gabbar Is Back (remake of Tamil film Ramanaa), all these films have been remade from their original in one of the four south Indian languages.

So here’s presenting some upcoming Tamil and Telugu films that will be remade in Hindi. We also give you our wishlist of Bollywood actors we want to see in these remakes.

Kaththi

This Vijay starrer is the story of a criminal and impostor who takes up the identity of a crusader (Vijay in a double role) and fights the cause of farmers, threatened by big corporates bent on taking their land.

Read: Akshay Kumar to star in Kaththi remake?

Akshay Kumar would do well as an imposter who turns a crusader in Kaththi’s Hindi remake. (Akshaykumarofficial/Facebook)

In a role that requires the actor to metamorphose from playing a petty criminal and conman to a crusader, Akshay Kumar fits in well. Given his recent track record of playing roles with reformist-nationalist overtones to vigilante, Akshay is the right choice for the job.

Visaaranai

A story set in a jail that focusses on police brutality and torture, Visaaranai is remarkable for the honesty with which it presents what actually happens when people are wrongfully detained and confessions extracted from them.

Read: Priyadarshan to direct cop drama Visaaranai in Hindi

Visaaranai is a compelling Tamil drama on police brutality. A still from the film.

The rights for the Hindi remake have been bought by veteran director Priyadarshan. And while casting is yet to be done, we think Nawazuddin Siddique would do well to fit into Dinesh’s role while Kamlesh Sawant who played sub-inspector Laxmikant Gaitonde in Ajay Devgn-starrer Dhrishyam, would do well as the dreaded cop, played by actor Ajay Ghosh.

Kamlesh Sawant and Nawazuddin Siddiqui as cop and the victim would fit well.

O Kadhal Kanmani

The film that pretty much marked the return of celebrated Indian filmmaker Mani Ratman back into the romantic genre, O Kadhal Kanmani is a contemporary Tamil romance set in Mumbai and one that celebrates modern lifestyle and value system (the couple is in a live-in relationship). The film has a parallel love story running starring actor Prakash Raj and the dancer and former Censor Board chief Leela Samson while the younger couple is played by Dulquer Salmaan (son of Malayalam actor Mammootty) and the charming Nithya Menen.

Read: Karan Johar, Mani Ratnam team up for O Kadhal Kanmani remake

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone share a crackling chemistry as was evident in Tamasha. (TamashaOfficial/Facebook)

News is that Bollywood producer-director Karan Johar has already secured the Hindi remake rights for the film. The lead pair too has been decided and it will be the Aashiqui 2 pair of Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor. While we don’t quite have a fight with the pair, we feel Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone will raise the bar as far as acting and emotive skills go. For the senior pair, Pankaj Kapur and Neena Gupta would do a fine job.

Srimanthudu

2015’s big Telugu hit starring Mahesh Babu too is headed the remake way. A family film meets social drama, Srimanthudu is a mainstream masala film with all the necessary elements thrown in (songs, fights, star attraction) but it has one more thing – its story is removed from the regular, in that, it has the hero of the film, a scion of rich city-based family, return to his village and adopt it to improve the condition of the impoverished villagers and punish their tormentors.

Content over star power: Story of south cinema in first half of 2015

Ajay Devgn could easily step into the shoes of Mahesh Babu as a business scion who turns a benefactor. (AjayDevgn/Facebook)

News is Hrithik Roshan is being considered for the Hindi remake but we feel Ajay Devgn will bring both the gravitas and intent to the role that Hrithik Roshan may not be able too. The plot being such, it can easily slip into bravado, chest thumping and jingoism. And while the female lead doesn’t have much of a role, we feel someone like Sonakshi Sinha would be fair game to play Shritu Haasan’s character. In the original, the actor decides to take the road less taken at the behest and provocation of his lady love.