Filmmaker Bijoy Nambiar was working on the Hindi remake of Mani Ratnam's 1988 Tamil action drama, Agni Nachathira after the release of 'Wazir' starring Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar. Vicky Kaushal and Harshvardhan Rane were finalized to play the leads in the remake. However, the script didn't materialize as expected and the remake was put on the backburner. “Right now we are not working on this film. It’s not shelved. We have put this film on hold for sometime," Nambiar had said in November 2016.
The director then went to South to direct Dulquer Salmaan in Tamil-Malayalam bilingual 'Solo'. Now, six months after 'Solo' release, we have learnt that Bejoy is returning to Hindi film and will revive the same project. According to sources, he has locked the final script for Agni Nachathiram and is currently working on other aspects of it. "Bejoy's version will be a contemporary reboot of Agni Nachathiram. Though the script core would be based on that film, it'll be told in Bejoy's own style," the source said.
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Our sources also informed us that the casting of the remake has been changed now. Randeep Hooda and Amit Sadh have now come on board to play the characters Prabhu and Karthik had portrayed in the original 30 years back. Randeep and Amit will be playing step-brothers in this film that tells the story of two half-brothers who come into conflict with each other in their claim for legitimacy as sons of a common father. They will be sharing screen space together for the second time after Salman Khan's 'Sultan'.
Agni Nachathiram went on to become an out-and-out money spinner and successfully completed a 200-days run at box office. With Bejoy on board to helm it, the remake is expected to be interpreted well keeping Mani Ratnam's vision in mind as he had assisted Ratnam on Guru and Raavan before making his Bollywood debut.
However, when we contacted Bejoy he declined this news saying, "I am not remaking Agni Nachathiram. I am working on something original and still not locked on anyone on that."
