Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 9, 2016)


Four months ago, Vidya Balan visited filmmaker Kiran Kumar in his Mumbai office for a photo-shoot and was presented with a seven-minute freshly cut promo of Ek Yodha Shoorveer, the Hindi-remake of Urumi, a Malayalam film she had shot for over five years ago. "I told her that I was going to take the epic action-drama and give it a new 'Baahubali style' release. She was excited and loved the idea. We are dubbing and re-releasing the film across India, since all the actors have a huge fan following up North," Kiran told Mirror.

The 2011 original was directed and co-produced by internationally acclaimed cinematographer Santosh Sivan and featured Mayalalam star Prithviraj, filmmaker-choreographer Prabhu Deva, Bollywood actress Genelia D'Souza, and writer-director Amole Gupte. Tabu also makes a special appearance while Vidya Balan featured in two songs. Back then, the 36-yearold National Award-winning actress had revealed that the film was a gift to her parents who had long wanted to see her in a film that reflected the South Indian culture.

"Urumi is set in the early 16th century when Portuguese sailors invaded the Indian shores. It is a story about revenge and incorporates the life of Vasco Da Gama and his journey through South India. These concepts have never been explored in the North and the success of Baahubali made us realise that the audiences now is more open to a period saga like this," Kiran explains.

Vidya Balan who is presently in Kolkata filming Sujoy Ghosh's sequel to the 2012-drama Kahaani has offered to promote the film with a video. Her character, Makkom, has changed to a teacher called Bhumi in the Hindi version. "I began working on the remake a year ago and got in touch with all the actors. They have all agreed to come on board and promote it," asserts Kiran.

He insists that bringing the film back after six years is not "weird" because the film's concept is still fresh and relevant. "It is Santosh Sivan's comment on globalisation and resonates with people today as corporate lobbies are displacing indigenous communities across the world. The film is on the same theme but removed by a few centuries and focuses on a new kind of storytelling. You'll get to see Vasco Da Gama as more than just an explorer," he promises.