Varun Dhawan turned a mass hero with this remake

Young, mass heroes in Hindi cinema, who make a mark with their bubbly, infectious screen presence have always been the right choices for remakes of southern hits. This has been a de rigueur for a long time in Hindi film industry, especially from the late 1960s. The examples of Rajesh Khanna, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, not to miss out on the titans like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra come to one's mind instantaneously.

On similar lines, Varun Dhawan, who managed to steal the thunder as a debutante from under the nose of Siddharth Malhotra, another first-timer, in 'Student no 1' (released in late 2012) too experienced this early in his career.

His first southern remake got released in summer 2014 titled 'Main Tera Hero'. A remake of Ram Pothineni's ' Kandireega', it was a chaalu kind of a film with a fast-paced narrative, the standard, brainless aggregation of sequences set on a pre-formatted template.

Borderline Bhojpuri movie it was, which facilitated deepening the market for Varun into the interiors of the Hindi belt and beyond. Already, he was being seen as a millennial Govinda, with his infectious charm, dance and dialogue delivery.

This action thriller, which was the coming of age story of a small-towner in the big city, who wins his girl, after a tough competition with the villain made him a known name immediately. A fair assessment of its BO record shows it managed an above average response, earning it a semi-hit status.

In contrast, the Telugu version did very well, as the film was appreciated for its entertaining factors and the impish attraction of its hero. It earned a handsome Rs 22 crore, a turnaround for Ram who had to endure three flops prior to the release of this film.

Bought for a reported price of Rs 2 crore as its dubbing rights by Ekta Kapoor, the Hindi version with a budget of Rs 31 crore went on to make Rs 78 crore, as its lifetime earnings. The commercial appeal of the script made it a remake favourite in Bengali too.

Interestingly, a year after the Hindi film was released, the dubbing of the Telugu original found its way into the satellite television market. This only goes to reinforce the success Telugu films have been enjoying over dedicated upcountry movie channels as they seem to be reliable, afternoon viewing content.