YRF strikes deal with Columbia’s 64-A films.
By Tathagata Mitra
BANGALORE: Yash Raj Films’ 2011 romantic comedy ‘Ladies vs Ricky Bahl’ which starred Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma is headed towards a Spanish remake.
The studio has announced the news of the remake of the hit film directed by Maneesh Sharma and produced by Aditya Chopra, with Columbia’s 64-A films. The deal was seemingly struck at the Cannes film festival this year.
Diego Ramirez of 64-A films shared his excitement for the collaboration with YRF in producing the remake.
“I think the character of Ricky Bahl is the real asset of this film and we look forward to adapting this for Colombian and Spanish audiences everywhere. As of now we are looking to film this in four Colombian cities of Cali, Medellin, Bogota and Cartagena for the sun and beaches there – there is a possibility to go across Latin America once the final script is locked,” he said in a statement.
Avtar Panesar, VP of International operations at YRF expressed, in a statement, “”This is truly path breaking for not just YRF as a studio, but also for the Indian film industry at large, as it paves the path for more such opportunities for everyone. We look forward to Ricky getting up to his tricks in Latin America now.”
It is rare for a foreign production to make a remake of an Indian film. In recent times, Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday! was remade into the Ben Kingsley thriller ‘A Common Man’. Also starring Ben Cross, the film was directed by Sri Lankan filmmaker Chandran Rutnam.
Although it was an official remake, Rutnam heavily reworked the film’s screenplay. The film despite winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Madrid International Film Festival and bronze medal in the Feature Films category at the New York Festivals’ International Television and Film Awards, was a commercial failure and also failed to impress most critics. It holds a 4.7 score at the box office and only a 16% score at Rotten Tomatoes from the audience ratings.