Kumar Taurani purchases rights of three hit South films

Mumbai: Producer Kumar Taurani of Tips has bought rights of three hit Telugu films – ‘Arya’, ‘Souryam’ and ‘Don Seenu’ - to cash on the box-office success of South remakes in Bollywood.

"We have bought the rights of three films, `Souryam` (2008), `Don Seenu` (2010) and `Arya` (2004). All these movies have done great down south and the audience had loved it. Hence we thought of remaking it in Hindi," Taurani told PTI. "We intend to produce five films a year. Of these five films at least one will be a remake. Apart from remakes there are original story ideas as well," he added. The 2004 hit Telugu film ‘Arya’ was directed by Sukumar and had Allu Arjun in the main lead. This film was later on dubbed in Malayalam, was remade into Oriya, Tamil and Bengali. ‘Souryam’ (2008), helmed by cinematographer-turned director J Siva Kumar, did well at the box office. The film was dubbed and released in Malayalam. The film was remade in Kannada and Tamil by Prabhu Deva. Another Telugu film is ‘Don Seenu’ (2010) starring Ravi Teja and Shriya Saran in the lead was dubbed in Hindi. Now all these three films will be remade in Hindi by Tips Company. "We have bought rights but then it is a process... We need to have the right writers, director and then comes the actor and actress. It will take some time. There are lots of things that we are working on; we are in talks with people," Taurani said. "Hence we can`t reveal much until and unless we things get confirmed. Its a combination of things," he said. However, there is a buzz that the remake of ‘Don Seenu’ is likely to feature Saif Ali Khan or Akshay Kumar in the lead. When asked about the same, Taurani says, "We haven`t finalized officially yet on the star cast for any of these films." Meanwhile, Taurani is looking forward to the release of his next home production, Abbas-Mustan`s `Race 2`, `Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story`, an untitled venture to be directed by Prabhu Deva, and Rajkumar Santoshi`s film tentatively titled `Phata Poster Nikla Hero` with Shahid Kapoor in the lead. `Race 2`, an action thriller is the sequel to the 2008 hit film, `Race`, and stars Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Anil Kapoor and Ameesha Patel. Other film is `Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story` featuring Vivek Oberoi and Neha Sharma. The romantic-comedy is about two opposite people? Vivek, a gangster and Neha, an educated-subtle girl, and how they fall in love. Then there is an untitled venture to be directed by Prabhu Deva, in which Girish, Taurani`s son is making his debut in Bollywood opposite Shruti Hassan. PTI