'Jana Nayagan': Anil Ravipudi breaks silence on remake rumors saying Vijay starrer is the 'soul' of 'Bhagavanth Kesari'

Vijay starrer ‘Jana Nayagan’ is facing legal and censorship troubles, leading to a delay in its theatrical release. Additionally, the film also made news as it had long been speculated to be a remake of the Telugu film, ‘Bhagavanth Kesari’ ’starring Balakrishna Nandamuri, directed by Anil Ravipudi. Recently, the director of the Telugu film shared words on the matter.

Anil Ravipudi says the film carries the 'soul'

Anil Ravipudi mentioned that Vijay’s film carried the “soul” of his film and made it clear that ‘Jana Nayagan’ is not a carbon copy and has gone through several changes under the director H. Vinoth, while speaking with Telugu 360.

Anil Ravipudi claims only select portions were retained from the original

Anil Ravipudi, talking about the comparison between ‘Bhagavanth Kesari’ and ‘Jana Nayagan’, only certain sequences have been adapted from his film. These include the first 20 minutes, the interval block, and a few scenes in the second half. "The team has taken the basic soul of Bhagavanth Kesari to remake Vijay's film. Some of the parts are the first 20 minutes of the film, the intermission and a few sequences in the second half. However, they have completely changed the villain's track and his goal to include sci-fi elements like robots in it,” he said.

He also shared strong confidence in the film upon its release.

Anil Ravipudi talks about making remakes

Additionally, he also shared his comments about the movie being called out to have “shot-by-shot remake”, the ‘Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu’ director defended it. He said that when a filmmaker does a remake, they often put the film’s high points. He added that the makers may have chosen not to officially announce it as a remake due to negativity on social media.

"When you think of a remake to get the highs, that's what you do. That is what people have been doing all these years. That is what a remake means...to take a film in another language. They didn't tell it publicly that it's a remake which could be because of a myriad of reasons including social media negativity. It's a tough challenge to hide it, but it is a fresh subject for Tamil audiences. Not every Tamil person in the world has seen Bhagavanth Kesari," he said.

‘Jana Nayagan’ is yet to hit the big screens due to the ongoing legal troubles, with the next hearing scheduled for January 21.