Koogle Kuttapa is the upcoming official Tamil remake of the Malayalam science fiction comedy Android Kunjappan Version 5.25. The first look poster of the film was released by actor Suriya on Tuesday. The film is helmed by debutant duo Sabari and Saravanan who told Silverscreen India that it is not a frame-by-frame remake.
Koogle Kuttapa is jointly produced by filmmaker KS Ravikumar’s RK Celluloids and Kallal Global Entertainment. Ravikumar will also star in a lead role in the remake.
Speaking to Silverscreen India, the director duo, who have previously assisted Ravikumar on films like Lingaa, said, “We have been friends for a long time. Since we shared a good rapport and the same wavelength, we thought of working on this film together. We saw the Malayalam film as soon as it was released and thought of remaking it. We initially approached Ravikumar sir only to act in the film. But after hearing the narration, he decided to produce it himself.”
Released in 2019, Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 follows the life of a father (Suraj Venjaramoodu) who is left with an Android robot named Kunjappan to take care of him while his son (Soubin Shahir) leaves to Russia for work, much to the chagrin of the father. The film won positive reviews upon its release and the makers recently announced a sequel titled Alien Aliyan.
Ravikumar will be portraying the role of the father in Koogle Kuttapa. The film also stars Losliya and Tharshan, who rose to fame after participating in the reality TV show Bigg Boss Season 3. While Tharshan will be reprising the role of Soubin, Losliya will be playing Kendy Zirdo’s character Hitomi, who is part Indian and part Japanese in the original film. “We were skeptical about casting a foreigner. We thought it would be better if a Tamil girl played the role and so we changed the character to a Sri Lankan Tamil girl,” the director duo said. It is to be noted that both Losliya and Tharshan are natives of Sri Lanka.
Yogi Babu will be reprising Saiju Kurup’s role in the remake.
The director duo said that though it is a remake, Koogle Kuttapa will be completely different from Android Kunjappan as it has been customised for the local audience. “We have retained only the essence of the story along with the feeling that you will carry after watching the climax. We have added a lot of entertaining elements.”
The filming of Koogle Kuttapa started towards the end of February and it was wrapped up in March after a 22-day schedule. The film was shot in Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu.
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Ghibran has composed music for the film, which features four songs. The re-recording and final post-production work is currently on.
The filmmakers said that they are aiming for a theatre release.
While the director of the Malayalam version, Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval had earlier told Silverscreen India that the sequel will start from where the first film ended, Sabari and Saravanan said a sequel to the Tamil version, should they decide to make one, will be completely different as well. “We have a different story altogether with a different point of view. But we need to see the reception this film gets before deciding on doing a sequel.”