Mirror (October 21) was the first to report that Mahesh Bhatt has sold the remake rights of his path-breaking 1982 drama, Arth, to filmmakers Sharat Chandra and Pravesh Bhardwaj.

Now, we hear that the producers have roped in South actress-filmmaker Revathy to direct the film. Incidentally, she had played one of the three central characters in Balu Mahendra's 1993 Tamil remake of the film.

“I didn't accept the offer immediately as Arth is not a film you can think of remaking, but after speaking to Bhatt saab on Saturday, I was convinced that we can do it. However, this one is not a remake but a modern take on Arth,“ informs Revathy, adding that she and writer Kamlesh Pandey are etching out the characters and casting will begin soon after that.

Meanwhile, Bhatt is all praise for the 51-year-old actress-filmmaker. “Normally, filmmakers are hesitant about approaching something that has acquired iconic status over time but the very fact that Revathy is willing to embrace the challenge of making Arth speaks volumes about the woman she is. She asked me how I filmed the last scene between Shabana (Azmi) and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. I told her I don't know. When you look back, you cannot claim ownership of an enduring classic. She also spoke about Smita Patil's emotional storms, which were captured so effectively,“ he tells Mirror.

While Bhatt told the story from a woman's perspective, he is certain that Revathy will bring another kind of uniqueness to the narrative. “I think she will bring the cultural space in which she has herself grown up in,“ he asserts. When asked about his take on modern-day extra-martial affairs, the filmmaker opines, “The more things change, the more they remain the same. We may claim to have moved into a new age where emotional references of the past have apparently withered, but this narrative will be relevant as long as the human heart looks at the other with the instinct of possessiveness.“