Yesterday, the fans of Allu Arjun in the Hindi belts were saddened after it was announced that Manish Shah of Goldmine Telefilms would not release the much-talked-about film, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’s Hindi version, in cinemas. A few hours later, Manish Shah confirmed that the film would now be released directly on satellite. Meanwhile, he’s also looking forward to releasing Ram Charan-starrer Rangasthalam and Vijay-starrer Mersal in Hindi in cinemas, most probably next month.
Bollywood Hungama has learnt that the entrepreneur is now also looking to get into film production and has the remake rights of a hit South film. A source told Bollywood Hungama, “Manish Shah has been releasing dubbed films on TV and his YouTube channel for years and has emerged successful. He now wants to produce Hindi films. He has bought the remake rights of Ajith’s 2019 film, Visawasam.”
Explaining why the remake of Viswasam is not still made, the source explained, “He had approached Ajay Devgn to reprise the role played by Ajith in the original version. However, he turned it down. Even Akshay Kumar refused the film. Both the actors felt that the film would not suit the Hindi audiences’ sensibilities.” According to this source, the remake rights of Viswasam were sold for Rs. 4 crores.
Another source told Bollywood Hungama, “Balaji Telefilms were also approached to come on-board and co-produce the remake of Viswasam. However, since no big actor had signed the lead part, they declined the request.”
Bollywood Hungama had recently spoken exclusively to Manish Shah. When asked whether he wanted to remake Viswasam with Ajay Devgn, the Goldmine Telefilms head replied, “See, a lot of discussions take place. But it’s not that it’ll always lead to fruition.” So does this mean he indeed holds the remake rights of Viswasam? To which, Manish Shah said, “The producer Sathya Jyothi Films and I have an understanding. We’ll do it together.”
Besides Ajith, Viswasam also starred Nayanthara and Jagapathi Babu. It is the story of a village ruffian whose life takes a turn when he meets his estranged wife after several years. In April 2019, there were reports that superstar Shah Rukh Khan was approached for the remake by Siva, the director of the original. SRK, however, had reportedly turned down the project. It was a time when he had taken a break after the debacle of Zero (2018) and was treading very cautiously.