Driving Licence is a 2019 comedy drama directed by Lal Jr, also starring Suraj Venjaramoodu, with Miya George, Deepti Sati, Saiju Kurup, Suresh Krishna, Lalu Alex, Major Ravi, Nandhu and Arun in supporting roles.
The Hindi film industry, which has started focusing on narratives targeting multiplex audiences, is lining up remakes of mass-market south Indian movies to bring crowds back to theatres. Banijay Asia-owned production house EndemolShine India has acquired the rights to two Tamil hits, Vijay-starer Master and romantic fantasy film Oh My Kadavule. Meanwhile, Rajkummar Rao featured in the Hindi remake of Telugu cop thriller HIT while Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan will be seen in a remake of Tamil hit Vikram Vedha.
Filmmakers and industry experts say there is an appeal in multiple language remakes of these small, content-driven films even in this age of video streaming platforms where the original film is available with subtitles for audiences.
Industry experts say the rights to remake a fresh box office success can come for Rs. 4-5 crore, bought either through a premium or by taking the original producer on board as a partner. However, it is getting tougher to acquire rights to south Indian hits because the filmmakers often want to cross over and make the Hindi version themselves, he said. For instance, Kabir Singh was made by Arjun Reddy director Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Shahid Kapoor’s last film—a Telugu sports drama titled Jersey—was helmed by Gowtham Tinnanauri, who directed the original version.
