If the industry grapevine is anything to go by, Suresh Productions has acquired the remake rights of two Korean films – Midnight Runners and Dancing Queen. Following the phenomenal success of Oh Baby, the Telugu remake of the Korean comedy Miss Granny, which was also produced by Suresh Productions, the popular banner has two more remakes in the offing. Apparently, Regina Cassandra and Nivetha Thomas are believed to have been signed for the remake of Midnight Runners.
The yet-untitled project will be directed by Sudheer Varma of Swamy Ra Ra fame. An investigative thriller, Midnight Runners, a 2017 Korean action-comedy, tells the story of two students at a police academy and how they bust a gang of human traffickers. While the original featured two male actors in the lead, it is learnt that the Telugu remake will feature Regina Cassandra and Nivetha Thomas in the lead roles. An official announcement is expected to be made soon regarding both the projects.
In a recent media interaction, Suresh Babu of Suresh Productions opened up about their upcoming projects. Last December, he had confirmed acquiring the remake rights of the Hindi films Dream Girl and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. “We hope to have six releases next year. We’ve also bought remake rights to two Korean films. Hopefully, those will also get made next year. It’s going to be a very busy year,” Suresh said.
Filmmaker Sriwass is said to have been signed to direct the remake of Dancing Queen. Both the Korean remakes will be co-produced by Sunita Tati, who was also associated with the Samantha Akkineni starrer Oh Baby.
Suresh Productions has also acquired the remake rights of the Tamil film Asuran. The remake, starring Venkatesh and Priyamani in the lead roles, is titled Naarappa in Telugu and is directed by Srikanth Addala. The project went on the floors earlier this year. Asuran, based on popular Tamil novel Vekkai, turned out to be a blockbuster with over Rs 100 crore in gross earnings. Directed by Vetrimaaran, the film is the blood-soaked revenge story of a father, a farmer, who avenges the ruthless murder of his elder son. The film featured Dhanush in dual roles, playing his character over two generations. Produced by Kalaipuli S Thanu, Asuran had music by GV Prakash Kumar and was predominantly shot in the interiors of Tamil Nadu.
Regina currently has a heroine-centric Tamil-Telugu bilingual film directed by Caarthick Raju. The shooting of this film commenced in a village in Tamil Nadu and is progressing well. The title for the Tamil version is Soorpanagai while the Telugu version is titled Nene Naa. Besides this, she also has Kasada Thapara needing her attention. Venkat Prabhu is producing this film under his banner Black Ticket Company in association with Ravindran’s Trident Arts.
Nivetha is awaiting the release of Pawan Kalyan’s comeback film, Vakeel Saab, in which she plays one of the three female leads. Her last outing was the action thriller V that also starred Nani, Sudheer Babu and Aditi Rao Hydari. The film had skipped theatrical release and had a direct digital release on Amazon Prime Video.
(Content provided by Digital Native)