Malamaal Weekly?

Well.  Rumour is that Shafi's 2010 hit film Marykkundoru Kunjadu ("Mary Had a Lamb") is set for a remake at the hands of Priyadarshan, and, according to IndiaGlitz, it's going to star Ranbir Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, and be titled Malamaal Weekly.

That Bollywood would go looking for yet another Malayalam hit film is no surprise, but I'm skeptical, about the title at the very least -- because, of course, Priyadarshan has already made a film called Malamaal Weekly (apparently loosely based on Waking Ned Devine, and about the attempt to find the winning ticket holder in the local lottery -- with Mollywood actor Innocent in the Ned Devine role).

A sequel to it was rumoured, but somehow I doubt the remake of  Marykkundoru Kunjadu is it.  In Marykkundoru Kunjadu,  Dileep stars as Soloman, a decent-hearted but good-for-nothing guy in love with Mary (Bhavana).  Soloman spends much of his time running from Mary's brothers and the rest of it dabbling as a mostly failed director.  Both his family and Mary want him to stop running away from his responsibilities.  One day a burly stranger (Biju Menon) turns up in the village, and everyone assumes he's Solomon's brother Jose, who had left home many years before.  Solomon is delighted to have someone around to stand up to Mary's brothers and the beatings they deal him -- but the stranger has some peculiar ways and it soon becomes apparent to Soloman that Jose is not quite what he seems.

Here, have a look at the trailer:

 

 

I have seen Marykkundoru Kunjadu, and I quite like it (and should probably dig out the write-up of it sitting in my drafts and get around to publishing it).  And I have to confess:  my first thought on seeing it was that if it had been made 15 years ago, David Dhawan would have snapped up the remake and it would have starred Govinda.  And it probably would have been almost as fun as the original.

I'm also not sure about Ranbir Kapoor or Suniel Shetty in either role -- the Solomon role might seem too much like Ranbir's Prem (from Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani), and although the Jose role is mostly silent and broody, Biju Menon is a terrific actor who brings more to the role than just that.

But of course, I'm always biased when it comes to remakes, generally preferring the original anyway.

Here's a final taste of Marykkundoru Kunjadu, the delightful song "Entedukke Vannadukum":

 

Comments

[Maxqnz]

Malamaal Weekly was NOT "loosely based on "Waking Ned Devine", it was a very clear and close copy. This is not a criticism, though. I Saw Ned Devine first and really liked it, but I still actually prefer Malamaal Weekly. Like Salaam-e-Ishq, another very obvious copy (of Love Actually), Malamaal succefully Indianised the story AND added something in the process. In its case, it was in showing more of the negative consequences of the win, it did more to highlight what the windfall did in terms of bringing out the worst in people than Ned Devine did, and I liked it for that. But certainly in tgerms of plot and story, it's closer to frame by frame than "loosely copied"

[katherine]

I shall take your word for it, because I've not seen Malamaal Weekly myself, was only relying on what I've read/heard about it, so erred on the side of giving the benefit of doubt. Though after having watched a bit of it online to find Innocent in it, I'm actually keen to get a DVD and watch the whole thing, frame by frame copy or not.

But of course, my real point was that it was very unlikely that a remake of Marykkundoru Kunjadu was going to be called Malamaal Weekly, since Priyadarshan obviously has already made that film/used that title. And it makes me wonder if a remake is really in the works, or if someone was thinking wishfully given the tendency to remake Mallu films, or if someone got part of the info right and then the rest wrong.