Vikram's 'Kasi' now in Sinhalese

Chennai, Sep 4 (IANS) Sri Lanka-born Indian Niranjan, who is doctor by profession, is making hit Tamil movie "Kasi", which starred Vikram, in Sinhalese and says the film's success in four south Indian languages inspired him to take it to Sri Lankan audiences as well.

"The movie was based on a Malayalam film titled 'Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njanum', which was remade in Tamil by the same director Vinayan. Then it was adapted in Telugu and Kannada. The reason I chose the film was because it proved to be successful in all its adaptations," said Niranjan.

He has titled it "Sooriyaa" and plays the lead role himself, while popular Sri Lankan actress Kanchana Mendis will be seen in the female lead. Niranjan has altered the script to suit the taste of local audience, but has retained Ilayaraja's music.

"My passion is to do films with a vision to do service to society. I also want to start a huge hospital at Madurai with state-of-the-art facilities and help the poor and needy," he said.

"I owe everything to director Mahendran. A family friend of mine, he inspired me to enter filmdom. I had earlier made two short films - 'Nandri' and 'Slipper' - and got critical acclaim at the Australian International Film Fest and the Canadian International Film Festival," he added.

Niranjan has done a couple of Sinhalese films too.

Major portions of "Sooriyaa" were shot in exotic locations in Sri Lanka, except a song sequence that would be canned in Switzerland.

"We hope it would add to the commercial value of the movie," said Niranjan who plans to release the movie in Sri Lanka, Europe and other parts of the globe where Tamils live.

"Since we get latest facilities in Chennai, I chose to do the post-production works here."

An ardent Rajnikant fan, Niranjan plans to invite the southern superstar for the movie's premiere.

Vikram Pictures