Remaking South Indian films is the flavour of the season. However, this trend to "remake" every other successful regional film that has resonated with audiences is slowly and steadily proving to be problematic for the sake of the creativity of the Hindi film industry. With over 30 South film remakes already in the various stages of production, Bollywood makers are widely sending out a message that they lack originality and are dependent on remakes of the South Indian films that have won hearts with their path-breaking storylines. The depth of this "remaking trend" can also be gauged with the ever-increasing number of "remake rights announcements" we see almost every week. Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha's Tamil romantic drama 96 joined the list just this Monday when producer Ajay Kapoor announced to have bagged its remake rights.
Now, Peepingmoon.com has learned about two more new South Indian movies that are soon set to get a Bollywood makeover. Industry sources have informed us that this year's popular Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen will be remade in Hindi. Producers Vicky Bahri and Harman Baweja have bought the remake rights and are planning to roll it early next year under their banner Baweja Studios. The producers have already roped in writers to rewrite the script according to Hindi audiences' sensibility and will soon lock the director and lead cast too.
Directed by Jeo Baby and starring Nimisha Sajayan and Suraj Venjaramoodu, The Great Indian Kitchen is termed as the most powerful film on patriarchy in recent years. A hard-hitting take on the sheer drudgery of everyday life that many women go through, the film was highly appreciated for its excellent direction, well-written characters, and power-packed performances. It tells the story of a newlywed woman who struggles to be the submissive wife that her husband and his family expect her to be. The film follows her journey as she struggles to cope with the mountain of seemingly endless household chores, differences in opinion, and unfamiliar traditions.
The other film set for Hindi remake is Nani's Gang Leader. Producer Akshai Puri of 12th Street Entertainment has bought the rights to this 2019 Telugu comedy thriller directed by Vikram Kumar. Puri is said to have got the remake rights just last week and will soon set up a team of writers to adapt the screenplay to suit it with Hindi audiences. Headlined by Nani, the film is an inventive wildly entertaining comedy with a great ensemble performance. It revolves around five women who seek the help of a budding crime novelist to avenge the death of their loved ones.
Nani's Gang Leader was in news recently after a speculative plotline of Shah Rukh Khan and Atlee Kumar's film emerged on social media that sounded similar to this film. Speculations started doing rounds regarding the similarity between two films after a web portal claimed that "Atlee film will be a massive revenge action-entertainer that will have Shah Rukh Khan assembling a team of women, who wanted to seek revenge for their past, to rob something untouchable". While it's true that SRK-Atlee's much-anticipated Pan-India offering is a robbery drama, it has nothing to do with Nani's Gang Leader as the film's remake rights are with Akshai Puri, our sources have clarified.
