Anirban Das (MID-DAY; May 27, 2016)

It is not uncommon for Bollywood filmmakers to take inspiration from regional cinema, but it is certainly rare for a film, which is awaiting release, to catch their fancy. Mukesh Bhatt, we hear, has bought the remake rights to Bengali film Praktan which hits theatres today. The love story marks the reunion of Tollywood’s superhit jodi Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta after 14 years.

A source says, “The directors (Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay) of Praktan had shown the trailer to Bhatt earlier and on May 24, he sat down to watch the film and appreciated it. So much so that he wants to remake it in Hindi with the director duo.”

Mukhopadhyay confirms the development and says, “Mukeshji had liked our last film, Belaseshe (2015), and since then, we have been in talks with him for a Hindi film. I had shared the script of Praktan with him and he showed interest. However, no producer remakes a film until and unless they watch the entire film. So, I showed the film to him a couple of days ago, and he agreed to remake it in Hindi. Nandita and I will helm it.”

However, Prosenjit and Rituparna won’t be a part of the Bollywood version. Bhatt reveals more details as he says, “We will rope in a set of Hindi writers in Mumbai to adapt the film as per the sensibilities of the Hindi film audience. The original star cast won’t be retained in our film.”

Was it on impulse that he decided to remake the film without waiting for the audience’s reaction? “I am remaking it even before knowing the collections of the Bengali release simply because I liked the subject,” adds the producer.