Nikhil Advani, riding high after the success of his espionage thriller "D-Day", is said to have been roped in to direct the remake of Subhash Ghai's 1983 musical blockbuster "Hero".
The original film had launched Jackie Shroff and Meenakshi Sheshadri into the big league. Advani, who worked wonders with newcomers Sree Swara and Akash Dahiya in "D-Day", hopes to work Ghai's magic on debutants Sooraj Pancholi and Aathiya Shetty, progenies of Aditya Pacholi-Zarina Wahab and Suniel Shetty, respectively.
Advani, who is also committed to direct the sequel to "Mr. India" for producer Boney Kapoor, would now be putting Sooraj and Aathiya through rigorous workshops.
"Those were different times. A time of innocence even when Jackie played a hoodlum. Jackie's character has to be pitched differently now, more edgy and dark. While Meenakshi Sheshadri's character would remain the same in spirit when Aathiya takes over, Suraj's Kishen would be very different from Jackie's Kishen," said a source close to the project.
The source also revealed that Advani intends to rewrite the entire script and the characters to suit the definitions of present-day love, courtship and elopement.
But some of the original music may be retained.
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"Nikhil has a very sharp music sense. All his films have terrific music. He will retain some of the songs 'Pyar karne wale kabhi darte nahin', 'Nindiya se jaagi bahaar' and 'Tu mera hero hai', which Laxmikant-Pyarelal composed, may be used in the remake. But Nikhil has decided on a very fresh approach to the subject," the source added.
The original "Hero" was about the forbidden love between a police officer's sister Radha and an outlaw Jaikishen, and his efforts to go straight for the sake of love.
The remake would be radically different from the original.