Bollywood expands its horizons: Following a successful Chinese remake, the film starring Ajay Devgn is set to embark in South Korea.
Drishyam has evolved into a worldwide sensation
For the first time, India’s Panorama Studios and Anthology Studios from South Korea had joined hands for the successful franchise remake of an Indian film. The announcement was made during the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, by their respective studio heads – Kumar Mangat Pathak and Jay Choi.
The Korean film will be directed by ‘Cobweb’ director, Kim Jee-woon and will be starred by Sang Kang-ho, of ‘Parasite’. Taran Adarsh, a film critic and box-office tracker broke the news through Twitter.
In an interview with Variety magazine, Pathak expresses his excitement of the remaking of Drishyam in Korean language as all these years it was them, who were “inspired” by the Korean film industry and now the ‘tables have turned’. Korean movies such as ‘I Saw The Devil’ and ‘The Chaser’ were remade into ‘Ek Villain’ (2010) and ‘Murder 2’ (2011) respectively.
According to the makers, this is the first time that an Indian film’s remake will be made in Korea. ‘This will not only increase its reach beyond India but also put the Bollywood industry on a global surface, the producer added in his statement. Taking the film franchise to South Korea, Kumar Mangat Pathak, manager of Ajay Devgn, has received multiple language rights for the Hindi movie.
A blockbuster hit
Originally directed by Jeethu Joseph, Drishyam is a remake of the 2013 Malayalam film, starring Mohanlal and has been refashioned in four Indian languages: Papanasam in Tamil (2015), Drushyam in Telegu (2014), Drishya in Kannada (2014) and Drishyam in Hindi (2015) went beyond the Indian borders to be made in Chinese. The Chinese counterpart titled ‘Sheep without a Shepherd’ made an enormous hit in China’s box office scoring grossly $199.2 million!
The crime-thriller was directed by Nishikant Kamat and stars Ajay Devgn, Tabu, and Shriya Saran in lead roles in its hindi counterpart. The story revolves around a common man, a semi-literate film buff who goes to great lengths to protect his family when they become involved in a crime. The movie was well received by both critics and audiences and was a commercial success. It garnered widespread acclaim for its gripping narrative, strong performances and well-executed plot twists.
Jack Nguyen, an executive formerly associated with Warner Bros and based in the United States, will take on the role of executive producer for the Korean adaptation. Nguyen has previously collaborated with Pathak on the comedy movie ‘Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge’, which was produced by Warner Bros and has also worked with Choi on the highly-acclaimed blockbuster drama “Age of Shadows” featuring song.
Expressing his admiration for these esteemed producers, Nguyen stated that his prior experiences with them made it a natural choice to bring them together for the collaborative endeavour of retelling the compelling narrative of the story. He further expressed his enthusiasm for assisting them in creating history through his groundbreaking Indian-Korean co-production.
