Director
Badri Venkatesh is planning a remake of the 1978 cult classic
Aval Appadithan
, which had
Kamal Haasan and
Sripriya in the lead roles with Rajinikanth playing a key role.
Shruti Haasan is likely to play the role of Manju, made memorable by Sripriya. Names of Simbu and Dulquer Salmaan to play Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan’s characters, respectively, are also doing the rounds.
“It all started when I took up a social media challenge and answered my niece, who is an American, that the soundtrack of Aval Appadithan resonates with me even today, and tagged Shruti Haasan,” begins Badri.
“I’m from the film institute, and this film, by C Rudhraiya, is the first film made by a graduate of the institute. So, it’s close to my heart for more reasons than one,” he continues, “I worked with Shruti Haasan in her show, Hello Sago, and had chatted with her about Aval Appadithan. She re-watched the film on my insistence. The film talks about so many issues that are extremely relevant today. I wanted to make the film again and Shruti was excited about the idea. We also have a producer on board.”
But there’s a problem — Badri doesn’t know who holds the rights to the original. “Rudhraiya is no more and I don’t think his daughter, who is in the US, also knows about it. I won’t be recreating the film frame by frame, but I want to start this project without any hindrance,” he states.
Has he reached out to Dulquer and Simbu for the remake? “The communication has reached Dulquer, but I haven’t spoken to Simbu yet. The film rests on Manju, and Shruti is game to play the role. I might get Dulquer or Vijay Deverakonda on board for the male lead. Though Yuvan Shankar Raja has composed music for all my films, I want to get Ilaiyaraaja sir to score the music for this one,” informs the director.