Director Adhik Ravichandran has revealed that actor Ajith Kumar actively pushed for him to direct a film at a time when no other hero in the industry was willing to even hear a story narration from him, going so far as to agree to play the father’s role in a proposed Tamil remake of the Hindi hit Badhaai Ho.
Adhik said he first met Ajith during the shooting of Nerkonda Paarvai, H. Vinoth’s Tamil remake of Pink produced by Boney Kapoor. Adhik was part of the cast, playing a supporting role in the film alongside Ajith, Shraddha Srinath and Abhirami Venkatachalam.
Within four or five days of shooting together, Ajith Kumar took the initiative to introduce Adhik Ravichandran to Boney Kapoor. “He introduced me to Boney Kapoor and told him, ‘This is Adhik Ravichandran. He’s not an actor, sir, he’s a director. He’ll make it big. We have to do a film under Adhik’s direction,’” he recalled.
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Adhik recounted that after his second directorial film flopped, he found himself at the lowest point of his career. “After completing my second film, no hero was even willing to hear a story narration from me. Following the disaster result of my second film, I was at my absolute lowest. But Ajith Kumar wanted to give me a film,” he said.
Boney Kapoor, who had acquired the South Indian remake rights to Badhaai Ho, the 2018 Hindi comedy starring Ayushmann Khurrana about a middle-aged couple’s unexpected pregnancy and its effect on their family, wanted to produce a Tamil version. Ajith agreed to star in it under Adhik Ravichandran’s direction.
The role Ajith offered to play was the father’s character, the part Gajraj Rao had played in the original. “Ajith Kumar said he would play the father’s character for me. I was stunned. It was a lifetime opportunity,” Adhik said.
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He admitted he had not even watched the original Hindi film when Boney Kapoor asked him whether the remake would work. “I hadn’t even watched the original film, but I immediately agreed to remake it. I was planning to convert the remake into an action script for Ajith Kumar without compromising the essence of the original.”
What happened to the Badhaai Ho remake
The Tamil remake of Badhaai Ho was eventually made without either Ajith Kumar or Adhik Ravichandran. It released as Veetla Vishesham, directed by RJ Balaji and NJ Saravanan, and starred RJ Balaji, Sathyaraj, Urvashi and Aparna Balamurali.
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