Director Ahmed, who shot to fame with his film Endrendrum Punnagai, is busy completing the Tamil remake of Jolly LLB which is titled Manithan in Tamil.
Udhayanidhi Stalin plays the lead with Hansika in this film that is being produced by Red Giant Movies.
Talking to Express, Ahmed says, "It is true. We are in the final stages of completing Manithan, which has come out really well. I have modified the script slightly to suit the taste of the audiences pertaining to the region."
Get him to comment on what kind of modifications have been made and Ahmed says," For instance, in the Hindi version, you wouldn't know where the hero is staying. In my film, you would know that the hero stays in Mannadi. In fact, we put up a huge set in Mohan studios to make it look like Mannadi.It required quite a bit of effort as scores of artistes had to be used to shoot these sequences. Another important modification is the heroine's role. In that film, the heroine just appears in a few scenes. In my film, the heroine's role has been extended considerably and Hansika's done a fantastic job."
Remaking a film is quite a challenge. Ahmed agrees. "The biggest challenge is to retain the soul of the film and yet showcase and bring out your own identity through it."
Manithan also features Prakash Raj, Aishwarya Rajesh and Vivek in important roles.Santhosh Narayan has scored the music for the film, which has 4 tracks. Madhie is the cinematographer and Manikanda Balaji is its editor.While some sequences of the movie were shot in Pollachi & Karaikudi, the remaining portions are being shot in Chennai and Challakudy.
So, when is the film going to hit screens?
"I can't comment on it now. But the producers are looking at the possibility of releasing it either by April end or in May," says Ahmed.