There have been reports of director Jiju Asokan planning a Tamil remake of his 2015 film, Urumbukal Urangarilla, doing the rounds for a while. The filmmaker has finally given an update on the status of the project. Stating that they are indeed going ahead with it, Jiju said, “Stories of burglars often make for fascinating stories, and we don’t tire of them no matter how many times they have been told in films. Malayalam cinema itself has borne witness to numerous films which revolved around such subjects.”
The original version starred Chemban Vinod Jose and Vinay Forrt.
Jiju feels that he can present the same story with a different approach in Tamil. “As we have seen such stories getting much appreciation in Tamil cinema too, we thought it would be a good idea to transplant our story in a rustic Tamil setting,” he adds.
The primary impetus to do the Tamil remake, he says, is the fact that Urumbukal Urangarilla delves into a lot of aspects about the profession, such as the “myths, amusement, mentors, gods, culture, ethics, and so on”. Jiju imagines a Tamil backdrop can do wonders for a story of this magnitude.
On why they held on to the idea of a remake for this long, Jiju says, “We have received offers to remake the film in other languages too, but we were adamant about doing it ourselves. Hence, the delay.”
The pre-production process has already begun. AAAR Productions and Kamalam Films are jointly bankrolling the project, which is scheduled to go on floors by the end of the year. The makers will be revealing the details of the cast and technical crew members soon.