I have noticed a `remake´ fever pitching in through recent articles published in Behindwoods, thus I will add my piece of the cake on what movies can be made again in Kollywood, taking a cue from Hollywood and other woods! There have been some really interesting ideas coming in, but my suggestions here are not focused only on how interesting they would be, but also in a sense as to how much these movies could make Tamil cinema a better place to be.
Road to Perdition: Selvaraghavan-Vikram - Daniel Balaji?Underworld crime sagas have always been a huge favorite among Indian audiences, especially in the south where rawness and realism is associated. The film is a poignant story of a father trying all out to protect his son, and in the process even breaking his loyalty to his own godfather. The morale of the story is on the high side, it is narrated by the son who tells how his father desperately did not want the son to become another gunman like him. And in the end, the son never fires a bullet, and never touches a gun after that. It needs a genuinely talented director to really give the film the proper Indianized take, and given the nature of it, it belongs to Selva Raghavan with somebody like Madhavan or Vikram playing Tom Hanks´ role. Daniel Balaji will be an automatic choice for Daniel Craig´s role, but it might also be different to give it to a new actor like Nithin Sathya among others. However, I am thinking of something novel, and that is Shyam playing this negative character. He is a decent actor in need of a big break. Daniel Balaji could play the psychotic killer played by Jude Law instead. Music completely is up to the director, and it is of paramount importance that the film gets the casting of the small kid right. Nataraja Subramaniam is just so good when it comes to handling the camera for dark natured narratives, thus his camerawork would compliment the film brilliantly.
Stranger Than Fiction: Venkat Prabhu-Madhavan- Priyamani?If remade will create a new trend of fresh comedy dramas (which the industry is so lacking). The premise is funny enough, the lead man is a mechanical office worker who suddenly hears someone narrating his life details, and telling us that he will die soon. Desperate not to die, the man tries to find the cause of the voiceovers, and discovers that he is a character from the book of female novelist, who always kills her lead character at the end of her book, and is currently struggling to find a way to kill his character. This discovery changes both the novelist´s and the man´s life drastically, and the film has a positive ending which also has a strong theme on how we cherish our life and how many of us are being too pessimistic about life. Venkat Prabhu is definitely the man to make this movie, with Madhavan being in the lead role, but having someone like Ajith doing the role will be different yet realistic. Priyamani has the perfect looks to play Maggie Gyllenhall´s cute, frank, yet unspectacular character of a bakery woman. Shobana or Nadiya would fit into the role of the mid-age novelist.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: A.L Vijay, Vijay-Trisha?A quirky crime thriller with one of the most novel methods of voiceovers in recent times, this will be a unique yet commercially entertaining film to watch in Kollywood. It is about a young thief who ends up being taken in as a stand-by actor and later gets dragged in by chance into solving a high-profile murder case in tinsel town along with a detective and a beautiful actress who was his childhood love. The film´s voiceover comes in a disorganized manner- with the lead character constantly criticizing his own self as to how bad a narrator he is. Vijay fits perfectly in the lead role played by a quirky `Ironman´ Robert Downey, with Trisha definitely taking the female lead as it has both glamour and performative requirements. Arjun would be a good cast in Van Kilmer´s role of a smart detective. A.L Vijay could direct this film (I watched Poi Solla Porom and I believe he has the right talent within him, especially with black comedy).
The Truman Show: Gautham- Surya-Mohan Lal-Jyothika?Andrew Niccol has written such a great screenplay for this film so it won´t do much justice to `remake´ this film but to slightly alter the proceedings and retain the main idea and theme of the movie would be great. The film tells the story of a man who realizes his entire life has been a TV show, and the ending has to be one of the best endings ever in cinema history- the hero just opening the studio door and walking outside despite Ed Harris´ constant warnings that the world outside is far more ruthless than the safe world that he has created for Truman. While my previous three suggestions are within a frame of being realistically achievable in Tamil cinema, Truman Show is one of my more ambitious hopefuls. Surya should play Jim Carrey´s role, with Mohan Lal playing Ed Harris´ role. Gautham would do well to direct this film with A.R. Rahman´s music. It would definitely be nice if Jyothika makes a comeback and plays Truman´s long-lost love interest, the very reason why Truman discovers the truth behind his life.
Omkara: Bala- Siddharth –Asin?We have a great tragedy director in the form of Bala. Let´s given him an all-time tragedy classic, Othello- and the results will be at least phenomenal. This does not necessarily have to be a remake of `Omkara´, it could be another adaptation of Shakespeare´s Othello. The setting definitely should be in a village , playing to Bala´s common territories, with Vikram playing Lago hands down. This would be one heck of a casting coup. Surya should play Othello, while Siddharth (yes, from Boys) playing Cassio. Desdemona belongs to Trisha or Asin while Sneha should play Vikram´s wife.
Regards,Ram Anand (Malaysia)
ram_dhanush@hotmail.com
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