Enlarge Image
Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; October 5, 2015)

Almost a fortnight ago, hitlist had reported about the possibility of Salman Khan adding another South movie remake to his oeuvre — a collaboration with A R Murugadoss. Now we hear the star has acquired the rights to Tamil action thriller Thani Oruvan, which released two months ago, to be made in Hindi.

Says a source, “It is a plot-driven film, which earned good money at box office. Salman’s production team liked the concept and after reading the script and conducting thorough research, they suggested that he acquire the rights for a remake.”

Thani Oruvan, which translates to ‘The Lone Man’ in English, revolves around a cop’s relentless efforts to expose corrupt persons. It is said that Salman was pretty impressed with the story and has shelled out a whopping amount for the rights. The original directed by Mohan Raja had a powerful star cast comprising Arvind Swamy, Nayantara and Jayam Ravi.

Another source close to the production team says, “We have just acquired the rights and the casting is underway. We will begin shooting sometime next year. There is a possibility that Salman might star in the film, but since he is currently working on Sultan, he will take a call on this project soon.”

Salman remained unavailable for comment.
--------------------------
Upala KBR (DNA; October 5, 2015)

There is much speculation about the next film Salman Khan will sign and about who will direct those films. There is even talk of the actor buying rights to a South remake.

Why a remake? Four out of his last seven films have been remakes of Telugu and Malayalam films. Even though lately the Hindi remakes of South films haven’t been well-recieved, Salman has never followed trends.

But which one will it be? The actor has to choose from two films, Mohan Raja’s Thani Oruvan (originally starring Jayam Ravi) and Kaththi, the Tamil film directed by AR Murugadoss that entered the `100 crore club the fastest.

Bhai’s team has seen Thani Oruvan and approved it. Bhai, too, is mighty impressed with the project and is keen to remake it in Hindi but hasn’t seen it yet. Ram Charan, who wants to star in the film’s Telugu remake, recommended Salman’s name to the director. The only hitch here is that Raja wants to direct the Hindi version as well.

Kaththi revolves around lookalikes Kathiresan and Jeevanantham (Vijay) and focuses on farmers committing suicide. Farmer suicides is an issue that has disturbed the actor.

So, which will be the first project he will greenlight? Watch this space...