Bejoy Nambiar, the director of Amitabh Bachchan-Farhan Akhtar's "Wazir," is set to remake Mani Ratnam's 1988 Tamil movie "Agni Natchathiram." Harshvardhan Rane and Vicky Kaushal are roped in to play the lead actors in the film.
The Tamil version, "Agni Natchathiram," was about two step brothers who have a sour relationship due to their father. Prabhu and Karthik played the lead roles along with Amala and Nirosha as their partners in the Mani Ratnam directorial. The film was highly appreciated as it completed a 200-day run at the box office and also, the songs, composed by Ilaiyaraaja, became popular.
In Bejoy's remake, Harshvardhan and Vicky will reportedly play the step brothers, while the actresses are not announced yet. However, in 1992, the Tamil film was remade in Hindi by action director Pappu Varma, but the movie, titled "Vansh," bombed at the box office.
Although the first attempt at remaking "Agni Natchathiram" failed, Bejoy still chose this film to be remade in Hindi again. "I think the story still resonates and if done well can really connect. I've just started writing and I am in the process of locking the script," Bejoy told SKJ Bollywood News.
In "Vansh," Ilaiyaraja's music was recreated and according to reports, Bejoy will also revisit the original score in his version of Mani's melodrama. Bejoy has assisted the ace director in his several films and also, was immensely appreciated by Mani on his directorial debut, "Shaitan." However, this is not the first time that Mani Ratnam's films are being remade in Hindi. Dulquer Salmaan and Nithya Menen's "OK Kanmani," which was a hit last year, is being remade as "Ok Jaanu" in Hindi and it stars Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles.
On the other hand, Harshvardhan and Vicky are deserving candidates for the Hindi remake. Though Harshvardhan couldn't give a hit in Bollywood till date, but his performance has been noticed by the filmmakers and the audience. Vicky has mesmerised fans with his acting in "Masaan" and now, he will appear in Nawazuddin Siddiqui's "Raman Raghav 2.0."
