Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan`s debut ‘Lahore’ has been sought by US studio Hollywood Gang for a remake and the director says he is ‘not surprised’ considering the global appeal of the film.
“Lahore” is an international subject with a global appeal and has been made keeping the western sensibilities in mind just like in Hollywood. So I am not surprised when they (Hollywood Gang) approached us," an elated Chauhan said.
"Scott Carr, the director of development of Hollywood Gang mailed Sai Om Films (producer), the rights holder of ‘Lahore’, about a week ago that they were noticing our film since long and they wanted to purchase the rights of the same," he said.
"The Intellectual Property Rights of the film are mine and I said yes on condition that they don’t tinker with the story except for any surface changes... the core story should be the same. It is very important for us that the structure of the film is kept the same in the remake," he explained.
Hollywood Gang has to its credit movies like "300", "Everybody’s Fine" and upcoming films "Xerxes" (2011), "Immortals" (2011) and a remake of "Excalibur" (2012).
Asked if he would be wielding the megaphone for the Hollywood version too, Chauhan said: "I am open to direct it and (will be ok) even if anyone else does it."
"However the director, cast, etc. is yet to be decided as right now everything is just at the preliminary stage. The contract is going to be signed soon," he added.
Released in India March 17, "Lahore" is now going for a phased release in the US and Canada followed by Europe and East Asia.
Set against the backdrop of competitive sports (kick-boxing) in the international arena, it already has a multiple international connect with the likes of Rob Miller as sports consultant who also worked on "Chak De! India", Tony Leung as action director, Wayne Sharpe as background music composer and "Avatar" vocalist Lisbeth Scott as singer.
"Lahore" stars Nafisa Ali, Farouque Shaikh, Ashish Vidyarthi, late Nirmal Pandey, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh, Kelly Dorji, Shraddha Das, Shraddha Nigam and Mukesh Rishi. Actor Aanaahad made his debut with the film.
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures India, it has also won an international award - the jury award for the Best Feature Film at the 42nd WorldFest International Film Festival, Houston, Texas, where the world premiere was held on April 20 last year.