'Tiger' Khan's South Connections: Will Salman's 'Kick' Deliver Another Remake Feat?

Fresh from the success of "Ek Tha Tiger", actor Salman Khan is all geared up for his third Hindi remake of Telugu blockbuster "Kick" likely to release mid 2013.

Achieving tremendous stardom may come off easily for certain actors, but upholding the success or repeating such feats can be difficult. Nevertheless, Salman seemed to have found a way to outsmart challenges ahead of him.

Salman has been showing interest in remaking super-hit South Indian films, given the fact that one of his hit films from down south put an end to a rough patch in his acting career.

Post the success of "Wanted" Salman has been striking it rich in tinsel town with back-to-back hits which created a benchmark at the box office window.

"Wanted" was an original remake of Telugu movie "Pokiri", which was directed by Puri Jagannath and has actor Mahesh Babu in the lead role.

His latest movie "Ek Tha Tiger" is Salman's fourth consecutive movie to join Bollywood's elite ₹1 billion club in the shortest time. "Bodyguard" and "Ready" are two movies which crossed the mark and have roots in the south Indian film industry,

Although "Wanted" tops in Salman's list of smash hit movies, it failed to cross the ₹1 billion mark, a parameter that is applied to latest releases to distinguish between commercial hits and flops.

"Bodyguard" was a remake of a Malayalam movie with the same title. It was also remade in Tamil and Telugu simultaneously and went on to become blockbusters.

"Ready" is a remake of a 2008 super-hit Telugu film directed by Srinu Vytla with Ram and Genelia D'Souza in the lead roles. Before the Hindi version was released, the film was remade in Kannada as "Raam" starring Puneet Rajkumar and Priyaman.

Salman's upcoming film "Kick" is a remake of 2009 Telugu hit with the same name. Earlier, the film was remade in Tamil as "Thillalangadi" starring Jayam Ravi, Shaam and Tamannaah and was amongst the top grossing movies in 2010.

The original "Kick" was directed by Surender Reddy and had Ravi Teja, Ileana D'Cruz and Shaam in the main cast.

Hindi film producer and Salman's long-time friend, Sajid Nadiawala, will embark his journey as director with "Kick".

Earlier, the movie was said to be directed by Shirish Kunder, but was later handed to Nadiawala due to some reasons.

Rumours suggested that the failure of Kunder's "Joker" was one of the key reasons that shelved him off the "Kick" project, immediately prompting Salman to clarify the reports.

"No that's nt true . shirish left the film . He is working on sm thing else . Ho gaya clear ? Good ! Challo bye . Take care guys n nice," he tweeted earlier this month.

Post the roaring success of "Ek Tha Tiger", Salman has unquestionably become the king at the Bollywood box office. His latest offering is all set to rack up ₹2 billion in Indian markets alone, breaching Aamir Khan's "3 idiots" record.

With a string of successful hits to his credit, Salman shoulders high expectations from die-hard fans, who anticipate him to deliver the same or even better hits.

What remains to be seen is whether Salman's "Kick" can spell magic for him like "Bodyguard" and "Ready".