Staying true to the original

Debutant director Mallik Ram, who is helming the Telugu remake of Hindi hit ‘Vicky Donor’, says he is mostly sticking to the original. Tentatively titled ‘Vicky Don’, the comic drama features Sumanth, Pallavi Subhash and Tanikella Bharani in the lead roles. “We’ve nativised the concept but content-wise, we haven’t changed anything. We made a very few changes like the climax just to make the film more dramatic,” said Mallik.

When asked whether the opportunity has given him wings to explore creatively bearing in mind that it’s a remake, he said, “I’m extremely happy. Sumanth garu always respected independent cinema and it’s not like I wanted to make an independent film. I rather wanted to find a path between independent and mainstream cinema.

“Coming to production design and costumes, we were very clear from the beginning to make a film different from that of the original. We’ve even made it more entertaining thanks to the help of my writers Kittu and Vidyasagar.”

Mallik promises that the audience will get to see a new Sumanth. The actor plays a Hyderabad-based cricketer who falls for a banker (Pallavi) in the film. “It is a sort of role which he hasn’t essayed till now. He was required to play a boyish role and speak colloquial Telugu. So, we worked on his lingo, hair and costumes.”

When asked who is playing Sumanth’s mother, he quipped, “I can’t reveal her name but she is a yesteryear actress. She will be the surprise package. Sunkara Lakshmi plays granny.” Dolly Ahluwalia received many accolades for playing the nagging mother in the original. Commenting on the progress of the project, Mallik said, “The film is over except for two songs.”