Filmmaker Priyadarshan has done several critically acclaimed Hindi remakes of South Indian films, but he admits that Hera Pheri was an exception and a surprise at that. The cult comedy starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal was directly translated from Malayalam into Hindi. “I never copied the same film except for one film which was made frame by frame, just like the original was Hera Pheri. No one wrote the dialogues in Hindi for that film; they were all translated,” Priyadarshan revealed in a recent interview with Pinkvilla. The 2000 classic was a spoken word remake of the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao, directed by Siddique – Lal.
“I never show the original to the actors”
Looking back on his approach to remakes, Priyadarshan explained why he avoids exposing his actors to the original films. “I never attribute the original film to an actor… I made that mistake a couple of times when I was remaking Malayalam films in Telugu, I showed Mohanlal’s films to the actors and they tried to imitate him. Everyone has a different body language. When I remade it with Akshay, I never showed him that. I also never make a film as it is. I always change. I never compare two actors,” he said.
Why most southern remakes flopped in Hindi
The veteran director also shared why many South to Hindi remakes fail to work with audiences. “90% of the remakes are flops because many South films that are remade in Hindi look like South films; they don’t look like Hindi films,” he noted. Instead, Priyadarshan credits his exposure to 70s and 80s Hindi cinema for helping him infuse his films with a Hindi sensibility. “Manichitrathazhu and Bhool Bhulaiyaa are both different cultures and backgrounds, you feel that Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a Hindi film, you don’t feel that you are watching a South film,” he explained.
Sequels are “just business”
Currently directing Hera Pheri 3, Priyadarshan also admitted that sequels rarely excite him from a creative point of view. “I don’t like sequels, I don’t believe in them because the whole problem is once a film is done and it reaches its zenith, people’s expectations increase and you can never meet them. So, it’s just a business. You can’t put your heart and soul into making a film,” he confessed.
