Delhi Belly remake to be called Naughty in Tamil

UTV films is remaking the highly successful Hindi film Delhi Belly in Tamil with Arya playing Imran Khan's role.

The cast includes Santhanam, Premgi, Hansika, Anjali, Nasser, and Telugu actor Ali. The film is directed by Kannan and is tentatively titled Settai (Naughty).

In this short chat, the man behind the venture, G Dhananjayan, chief, South Business, UTV Motion Pictures, talks about the Tamil remake.

Why remake Delhi Belly?

Delhi Belly is a cult Hindi film, which is remembered for its trend- setting performances. The core theme is relevant to all languages and hence we thought of remaking the film.

Do you think the Tamil audience is ready for the risque jokes in the film?

We are retaining the core theme/plot of the film and not the dialogues or format so we will not be using risque jokes; our jokes will be entertaining for family audiences.

Does that mean you will be watering down the jokes?

Not watering down but bringing out the relevant jokes for the theme/plot.

Popular directors like Sundar C have gone through the script and loved the screenplay adaptation and dialogues. That is a testimony to (the success of) our efforts.

How did you decide on the cast?

Post Boss (E) Bhaskaran, Arya and Santhanam proved that they are a hit pair. Our film is in a similar format and hence we roped in these two artistes. Others came in later one by one.

How different will the Tamil remake be?

There will be considerable difference. There will be a pre-story, the core plot of Delhi Belly, and then a nice ending.

It will be different to a large extent, although the core plot remains the same.

With the success of an urban love story like Leelai, do you think Tamil cinema also has a multiplex audience now?

I do not wish to comment about other films. Our film is not targeted at multiplex audiences but the entire mass living in the A,B & C centres.

Our film will be a complete entertainer from the first scene to the last.

Who wrote the screenplay and were you constantly monitoring the way it was adapted from the Hindi?

As the screenplay is adapted, let me put the credits as follows: Additional screenplay & adaptation: G Dhananjayan, John Mahendran and R Kannan. The dialogues are by John Mahendran.

Now you will understand how constantly or closely I was monitoring the way it is adapted from Hindi.

When do you plan to release the film?

Our current plan is to release the film in December 2012 or January 2013.