Chhatrapathi, a 2005 Telugu action drama directed by S. S. Rajamouli and starring Prabhas, will see a Hindi remake, release on 12 May. The Hindi film stars Sreenivas Bellamkonda.
Southern film remakes in Hindi, once a guaranteed recipe for box office success, are losing their appeal amid recent failures such as Selfiee, Shehzada, Vikram Vedha, and Jersey.
Trade experts point to the surge in popularity of original southern films on streaming services, with many platforms also offering Hindi dubbed versions, as a factor in the decline of demand for remake rights.
Experts said the remake model is not disappearing entirely for now, as the rights for smaller, unknown films, which may not have been discovered beyond their home market, can still be bought for ₹1 crore- ₹3 crore.
However, many are negotiating with streaming platforms to gain higher compensation by selling multiple language rights, including Hindi, to them.
To be sure, while many point to the success of Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 2, a remake of Mohanlal’s Malayalam film by the same name, the original had streamed on Amazon Prime Video directly, instead of releasing in cinemas, and wasn’t available in Hindi at all.
On the other hand, Akshay Kumar will be seen in the remake of Suriya’s Tamil film Soorarai Pottru which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada as well as in Hindi, titled Udaan.
Many producers are looking for smaller, relatively unknown films that haven’t been released or been watched outside their home state. These are cheaper to acquire and make for easier deals since not too many people are vying for them.
Remake rights (of popular films) have skyrocketed in the past few years. What could earlier be acquired for ₹50 lakh is now costing the Hindi film producer up to ₹5 crore.
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