Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; October 2, 2019)

With suicides on the rise in metros, and a reported increase in the dependence on artificial intelligence and indulgence in virtual relationships, actor Sonu Sood was drawn towards the Tamil-Malayalam bilingual, Lens, and now, he has gone ahead and bought the official rights to remake the film in Hindi.

The film, which won appreciation in the festival circuit, focuses on two characters, Aravind (played by writer-director-producer Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan) and a stranger (Anandsami). The story revolves around Aravind’s growing estrangement with his wife, owing to his indulgence in virtual sexual relationships. This paves the way for an encounter with a stranger, which becomes disastrous when he requests Aravind to witness his suicide on a video call.

Currently being reworked for the Hindi cinema audience, the film is expected to roll out in a few months. According to sources, Sonu plans to play one of the two key characters apart from backing the film as a producer. He also plans to rope in director Jayaprakash, who helmed the original, to anchor the remake. A source close to the actor told us, “Sonu had seen this film a while ago, and it stayed with him. He felt that it’s relevant for times like this, when we rely heavily on technology and spend more time in the virtual world than the real one. He thought that it would be a wise idea to remake the film in Hindi and take it to a wider audience.”