Its remake season and the latest one on the board is Don Seenu, one of this year’s biggest Telugu blockbusters that stars Raviteja, Shriya Saran and Anjana Sukhani in lead roles.
Directed by debutant Gopichand Milaneni, Don Seenu is a comedy action flick about a man who aspires to be a “Don” much like his idol Amitabh Bachchan in the cult classic “Don”. Although nothing is official, Gopichand has no qualms about directing the film in Hindi. “When I spoke to Ghajini director A.R. Murugadoss, he suggested I grab the remake offer, if it comes my way” he said when speaking to Times of India. But how does Murugadoss fit into this? Well, Gopichand was one of Murugadoss’ assistants during filming of the Telugu film Stalin and both have remained in contact ever since. In fact, beyond the suggestion to direct, it seems that Murugadoss was a key player in the idea of remake as he has discussed the film with a few Bollywood bigwigs.
But who will play Don Seenu? Well the list is quite interesting. To start with we have remake favourites Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. After the success of last year’s Wanted, a remake of the Telugu flick Pokiri, Salman is gearing up to do the Ready remake with Asin Thottumkal and is slated to do the remake of another Telugu film, Kick. Sohail Khan has even requested the Don Seenu DVD from producer Venkat on his behalf. Akshay, on the other hand, has been Priyadarshan’s right-hand-man for many of his Hindi remakes of southern films. In most cases, this combo has proven to be quite successful with Khatta Meetha being the latest. But while these two maybe keen, their schedules may not permit.
However, producer Venkat has another in mind. Seems friend and actor Abhishek Bachchan is his choice. “[Venkat] is willing to do the remake himself, provided I direct the film and Abhishek plays the lead.” says Gopichand who is due to meet with AB Junior to discuss the film. But wait there is another contestant. Saif Ali Khan, who’s desperate to get back on track since Kurbaan did not fair too well at the box office, has also expressed interest in buying the rights for the film.
So whether it’s Salman, Akshay, Abhishek or Saif, it seems like remakes are the “IN” thing in Bollywood.
