Bollywood has always borrowed from Hollywood films, but the recent need has been to secure official rights, especially following recent public notices being issued by Hollywood studios. Hollywood on the other hand has borrowed continuously from European cinema, including a remake of the 1997 Spanish film Abre Los Ojos (Close your eyes) into the 2001 Tom Cruise-starrer Vanilla Sky. Now get ready for Bollywood’s first offical Spanish remake.
Amitabh Bachchan will be seen in the Hindi remake of 2004 Spanish hit Incautos (Swindled). He’s been signed to play the role of Frederico, a well-seasoned con artist, who joins a fellow a con artist and apprentice, to execute the mother of all cons! But when a lady love from Frederico’s past re-enters his life, this clearly exposes a weakness in him and potential double-crossing, in this plot-twisted crime thriller.
Produced by Bunty Walia, who produced last year’s Lamhaa: The Untold Story of Kashmir and 2005 Amitabh Bachchan starrer Ek Ajnabee, it will be interesting to see how close the Hindi remake sticks to the original and if Bachchan and Walia can undo the mess they created with ‘copying’, sorry remaking, 2004 Denzel Washington starrer Man on Fire, as this time round Walia has secured the official rights for the remake.
Incautos also had a key young male character called Ernesto (the con men’s apprentice), plus a further elder con artist Manco and of course the femme fatale who plays Fredrico’s (Bachchan) lady love, who it’s rumoured may be played by Walia’s girlfriend and upcoming model Debi Dutta – watch this space to see which top actors are roped in to play the key roles around Bachchan.
