Director Adhik Ravichandran reveals Ajith Kumar once offered to star as a father in a Badhaai Ho remake

Director Adhik Ravichandran recently revealed that actor Ajith Kumar once offered to play the father's role in a planned Tamil remake of the Hindi comedy Badhaai Ho. At a time when Adhik was struggling after his second film failed and no other hero would listen to his stories, Ajith stepped in to support him.

Early Support

The two first met while working on Nerkonda Paarvai, which was H. Vinoth's Tamil remake of Pink and was produced by Boney Kapoor. Adhik acted in a supporting role in that film alongside Ajith, Shraddha Srinath, and Abhirami Venkatachalam. After just four or five days of shooting, Ajith introduced Adhik to Boney Kapoor, telling the producer that Adhik was really a director who would go on to make it big.

The Remake Offer

Boney Kapoor held the South Indian remake rights for Badhaai Ho, a 2018 Hindi film about an unexpected pregnancy in a middle-aged couple and how it impacts their family. Ajith agreed to star in the Tamil version with Adhik directing, specifically offering to play the father role originally portrayed by Gajraj Rao. Although Adhik had not even seen the original movie yet, he immediately agreed and planned to turn it into an action script while keeping the heart of the story intact. In the end, the Tamil remake was made without either Ajith or Adhik, releasing instead as Veetla Vishesham under directors RJ Balaji and NJ Saravanan with a cast that included RJ Balaji, Sathyaraj, Urvashi, and Aparna Balamurali.

Context

In the Indian film industry, established stars occasionally use their influence to support struggling or newer directors by helping them secure projects with major producers. Remakes of successful regional or Hindi films are also a common way to test new creative directions before giving a director an entirely original script.