Mumbai: Fifty-one years after it was released, a remake of the superhit film ‘Anand’ was announced on Thursday.
Sameer Raj Sippy, grandson of Anand producer NC Sippy, and producer Vikram Khakhar are working on a new version of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1971 cult film which featured the late Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan in key roles.
A director is yet to be finalized for the new film, which is in scripting stage.
Explaining the reasoning behind thinking of a remake after five decades, Sameer Sippy said stories like Anand need to be narrated to the new generation.
“Keeping in mind the sensibilities of the original film and the emotions attached, I felt the current generation needs to be retold the many stories that are so relevant today and especially when there is a great appetite for good content,” the producer said in a statement.
However, the news didn’t please netizens, most of whom don’t want a remake of the 1971 classic.
One user felt it’s almost impossible to re-enact a few characters like Dilip Kumar as Devdas, Rajesh Khanna as Anand, Amitabh in Don and Deewar, Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh.
“Please don’t spoil the film for us. It’s a classic,” wrote one user.
Another one was blunt: “Don’t do it.”
Someone described it as the worst news and said Anand should not never be remade. “It was brilliantly made by Hrishi da with star cast Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Seema & Ramesh Dev, Sumita Sanyal, Johnny Walker, Lalita Pawar etc. Anand is one of film listed under 100 film you must see before die,” he tweeted.
Another person mocked the idea by tweeting: “Take Arjun Kapoor and Varun Dhawan!! Lol.”
One user suggested an ‘original idea’, tweeting that the makers should cast Shah Rukh Khan for Rajesh Khanna and Saif Ali Khan for Amitabh Bachchan to ‘put some romantic tadka with Preity Zinta and the location of the shoot should be in the US’, referring to the plot of Kal Ho Naa Ho.
One of the finest Hindi films with evergreen songs, Rajesh played the title role of a terminally ill cancer patient while Amitabh played Dr Bhaskar, who was fondly called ‘Babumoshai’ by Anand.
