’96, a hit love tale directed by debutant C Premkumar released before Deepavali, and went on to become a huge hit. It even hit the magic 100 days in theatres number recently. The film, although not without its share of controversy, found takers everywhere, and is now being remade in other Dravidian languages. The Telugu version of the film was announced earlier, and the recent update is that the film will star Sharwanand and Samantha in the lead roles.
#96Telugu The Telugu remake of hit Tamil romantic drama '96' featuring Sharwanand and Samantha as the lead pair will hit the floors soon.
C. Prem Kumar directs it in Telugu as well. A Dil Raju production.
— Jalapathy Gudelli (@JalapathyG) January 18, 2019
While Samantha and Sharwanand will play Jaanu and Ram, characters played by Trisha and Viay Sethupathi in the Tamil original, Premkumar will return as the director for the Telugu version too. This was confirmed by Premkumar himself.
Earlier it was said that Trisha might play the lead, and talks were on with actors Rana, Nani, and others to play the role of Ram. Talking about it director Prem Kumar had said then, “Dil Raju and his team watched the film in Chennai and later discussed the movie with me. He has bought the Telugu remake rights and is very interested in 96. Dil Raju is in the United States right now. Nothing else has been confirmed. We just had a general conversation about the film. Nothing is final.”
But now with Samantha and Sharwanand all set, and Premkumar on board as director, production will begin on the film soon.
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Meanwhile, a report suggests that Kannada actor Ganesh of Gaalipata fame may play the lead in the Kannada remake of the film. Said to be directed by Preetam Gubbi, the film will probably start rolling later this month. While the female lead has yet to be finalised, the remake will be titled 99 as opposed to 96. However there is no confirmation on this.
96 released in October this year. The film rode high on a wave of high school nostalgia and proved to be a hit with the audience. Music composed by Govind Vasantha was critically and commercially successful as well. The film featured Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha in the lead, while it also starred Bagavathi Perumal, Devadarshini, Jankaraj, Kaali Venkat and Aadukalam Murugadoss.