One common belief that is across the whole of Indian tinsel towns is that Malayalam films are high on content, while Telugu films are full of masala. For the same reason, sometimes Telugu filmmakers buy remake rights of Malayalam movies and bring them here. But it looks like, such remakes will work only if they are masala-fied.
Last week, we have seen Malayalam movie Kappela’s Telugu version “Butta Bomma” hitting cinemas. The film hasn’t raked up much buzz like its other competitors. This is because the makers have struck true to the original and that failed to anchor the characters emotionally to the audience.
In recent times, even Sudheer Babu’s “Hunt” which is a remake of the Malayalam film Mumbai Police hasn’t worked. Previously, despite some changes, Megastar’s Godfather, a remake of Lucifer, hasn’t worked in a big way.
Other than Pawan Kalyan’s “Bheemla Nayak”, a remake of Ayyapanum Koshiyum, no other Malayalam remake has worked in Telugu in recent times. This is because director Trivikram has masala-fied Bheemla big time with his terrific writing itself.
That’s why Tollywood should work more on the script rather than bringing out a super copy-paste of the original Malayalam films. Else, the result will not be favourable.