Rasaleela is the next film to have a new version

It seems to be raining remakes of late and the next in the list is the 1975 film Rasaleela, directed by N Sankaran Nair.

The film, which was known for its rather bold theme, is being directed by Majeed Maranchery.

The songs from the original – Nishaa surabhikal…, Neeyum vidhavayo… and Manakkale thathe…, written by Vayalar Rama Varma and composed by Salil Chowdhury, are still hugely popular. In the new version, the lyrics are being penned by Vayalar Rama Varma’s son Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma and composed by Salil Chowdhury’s son Sanjoy Chowdhury.

Darshan and Prathishta are playing the lead in the new version, in the roles played by Kamal Haassan and Jayasudha.

The original Rasaleela was in fact the remake of a Tamil movie titled Unarchigal. The shooting of the new version is currently going on at Guruvayoor. The cast includes Kalasala Babu, Urmila Unni, Tony, Anoop Chandran and Narayanan Kutty.

The remake trend in Malayalam was recently started with Neelathamara and the superb success of Rathinirvedam has prompted many to remake some of the old movies. Right now Chattakkaari and Nidra are also being remade and another one in the offing is Inayethedi, which had Silk Smitha in the lead.

Is it the dearth of original ideas or the market for titillation that is prompting many filmmakers to go for the old time soft porn movies?

Well, your guess is as good as ours.