Vivek Oberoi has been making headlines since Ram Gopal Varma took to social media on Friday to announce their fourth collaboration. After Company, Rakht Charitra and Rakht Charitra II, Rai, a Hindi-Tamil-Telugu-Kannada thriller, based on the life of underworld don and entrepreneur Muthappa Rai, is in the works. The poster of the film will be launched by Rai himself on May 1. However, Vivek is quick to point out that this is not his only co-production this year. For the last year, the 39-year-old actor has been rigorously prepping up for half-a-dozen projects, which will go on the floors, back-to-back. “My mind is blown, there's so much to do!“ Vivek exclaims, admitting that being a producer is not easy. “But three of my scripts are locked and ready to roll in 2016, two of which are gangster dramas.“

In an earlier interview with Mirror (September 30, 2015) he had confessed to his “unparalleled“ love for Iranian cinema and today acknowledges that he has waited for a long time to creatively mentor a Hindi adaptation of an acclaimed Iranian project. “You name it, I've seen it. Iranian cinema touches a chord and conveys a message subtly in the way Hindi cinema has never been able to. Majid Majidi's story telling is unparalleled,“ points out Vivek, who has officially bought the Hindi remake rights of Majidi's 1999-drama, The Color of Paradise.

Written and directed by Majidi, the film follows an eight-year-old blind boy, Mohammed, played by Mohsen Ramezani, whose father, Hashem, played by Iranian actor, Hossein Mahjoub, reluctantly collects him from his boarding school and takes him back to the family farmhouse in the countryside for the summer vacation. After the death of his wife, Hashem struggles to rebuild his life and prepares to marry a local girl. Thinking that the alliance will break if she learns that he has a blind son, he packs Mohammed off to be a carpenter's apprentice. The carpenter mentors the boy, who wants to see God. But this move alienates Hashem's mother who dies heartbroken and the bride's family, seeing this as a bad omen, calls off the wedding. His hopes destroyed, Hashem goes back to collect his son but a bridge they are crossing, collapses and the boy falls into the river, leaving his father with the terrible dilemma of freeing himself of his lifelong burden or jumping into the river to save him.

“Majidi employs imaginative touches to tell his stories with the soundtrack tweaked to emphasise Mohammed's auditory acuteness. Children are happy at heart and hold no grudges,“ says the father of two, adding that he was so moved by the story that he decided to produce it himself. “I will be co-writing the script and am looking for a director since I'm not ready to direct yet.“ The film is being rewritten to suit a North Indian set-up and casting for the role of three children is currently underway. “We need films made specially for children and I plan to focus on producing movies which will release in theatres packed with kids,“ asserts Vivek.