Happy with first remake experience: Sudheer Varma

The shooting of Sudheer Varma’s upcoming film Shakini Dhakini (remake of Korean film Midnight Runners) has been completed. “It’s my first remake film,” says the director. (Though he was part of the Telugu film Kirak Party, he only wrote the screenplay, he clarifies.)

He says the essence of the original film had been retained, though a different spin was given to the new version, starring Regina Cassandra and Nivetha Thomas.  While the original has two male protagonists, the Indian version has two female leads.

“Hence the characters' behaviour and emotions are different. The conflict point was written around a female-centric theme,” he says, adding that filming the action sequences was the most challenging part.

“We wanted to make the action episodes natural and authentic. Moreover, the role was new to both the actresses as they hadn’t done any high-octane action sequences earlier. So they had to undergo training in the police academy,” reveals Sudheer.

A specialist was hired to coach them in police work. The crucial kidnap episode in the original was tweaked, since there are two women in the remade version.
“How we have portrayed that episode needs to be seen on the silver screen,” says the director.

Sudheer further says he watched the original film only once, to make sure that he didn’t get carried away with it. “I didn’t want the original to influence me; there are certain scenes that we could portray better,” he adds, saying that the entire film was shot in Hyderabad. “It was a gratifying experience and I am confident that the film would strike a chord with the audiences at the box office.”