‘Drishyam’ franchise to be remade in South Korea, Anthology Studios, Panorama Studios join hands in Cannes

New Delhi: Popular Indian crime-thriller franchise ‘Drishyam’ is set to be remade in South Korea. Korea’s Anthology Studios and India’s Panorama Studios are set to join hands for the remake. Kumar Mangat Pathak and Jay Choi made the announcement for the Korean remake at the India Pavilion in Cannes.

Originally written and directed by Jeetu Joseph, the Malayalam film ‘Drishyam’ starring Mohanlal in the lead was released in 2013 and has been a successful franchise since then. ‘Drishyam’ follows a fourth standard pass cable TV operator who gets involved in murder where he and his family are the accused. The franchise revolves around his street smartness and tussle to free his loved ones from the arms of the law.

The franchise has been remade in several languages inluding ‘Drishya’ in Kannada, ‘Drushyam’ in Telugu, starring Venkatesh, in Tamil as ‘Papanasam’ with Kamal Haasan, ‘Drishyam’ in Hindi, starring Ajay Devgan, ‘Dharmayuddhaya’ in Sinhala, and ‘Sheep Without a Shepherd’ in Chinese.

‘Drishyam 2’ has also been made in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi. The Malayalam film also starred Meena, Ansiba, and Esther Anil while the Hindi remake starred Tabu, Shriya Saran, Ishita Dutta, and Mrunal Jadhav with Ajay Devgan in lead. Apart from the Malayalam film, the Hindi and Tamil versions have been a big hit at the box offices.

Panorama Studios has all foreign-language remake rights of ‘Drishyam’. Anthology Studios was founded by former Warner Bros. Korean production head, Choi Jae-won, director Kim Jee-woon and ‘Parasite actor Song Kang-ho. The franchise has put Malayalam cinema on the global platform and this is another step in the same direction.

From ‘Dhamaka’ (Terror Live) to ‘Radhe’ (The Outlaws) Indian filmmakers have often remade Korean films but it is presumably for the first time that an Indian film will be remade in Korea.