Producer Boney Kapoor shared his thoughts on why recent Hindi adaptations of South Indian films are not successful in Bollywood. Boney said films like Vikram Vedha and Jersey lack the North Indian panache necessary to cater to the Hindi audience. Boney is producing Mili, a Hindi remake of the Malayalam hit Helen, which will have daughter Janhvi Kapoor in the lead.
In an interview to the Times Of India, Boney said remakes of South films in Hindi don’t work because they are “copy-paste”. Citing examples of Vikram Vedha and Jersey, Boney said that even the titles are the same as the original films. “While revamping South movies, you have to add North Indian birth to suit the Hindi audience. You have to make a film that will be accepted in India,” added Boney.
Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik RoshanVikram Vedha which released in September this year, had managed to collect 100 crore worldwide. The film’s directors, Pushkar and Gayathri, who also directed the original, went to great lengths to reassure audiences that the film was “completely different” from the Tamil hit. According to a report in Hindustan Times, Gayathri had said, “We never felt like we were recreating a scene. We had long set discussions about how to do this scene or that scene. And not once did we think about doing it the way it was before. The soul is the same but it is completely different.”
Hrithik also agreed with Gayathri and said, “We were trying to portray Vikram as played by Saif and Vedha as played by me. We were actually creating new, not recreating.” The original film starred R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi.
However, when the film was first released, the general consensus was that it would appeal to audiences who had not seen the original. Despite positive reviews, the film did not create wonders at the box-office.
Concerning Shahid Kapoor‘s Jersey, was a Hindi remake Telugu movie of the same name 2019. According to reports, the movie collected 19 crores at the domestic box office.
Boney had made Amitabh Bachchan‘s Pink in Tamil with Ajith KumarNerkonda Paarvai. It had been adjusted earlier Mahesh Babu‘s Pokiri as Wanted with Salman Khan. Okkadu was remade as Arjun Kapoor‘s Tevar while the Telugu film Subhalagnam was shot as Judaai with Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Urmila Matodkar.
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