MUMBAI: Studio 18, which has acquired the remake rights of the 1981 romantic comedy Chashme Baddoor, has signed on director Onir for the job. Work on the script has already begun, it is learnt.

Confirming the same to Businessofcinema.com, Studio 18 CEO Sandeep Bhargava says, “The remake rights of Chashme Baddoor have been purchased and we are primarily working on modernising the script for today’s audience.”

Onir has earlier directed My Brother Nikhil and Bas Ek Pal, which are relatively darker films unlike this new film he plans to embark on. “Actually, I agreed to do this film because it is a light hearted film. This is not the right time to make dark films,” avers Onir. The original version of the film was directed by veteran filmmaker Sai Paranjape. Incidentally, Onir has worked as an editor on Sai’s film Papeeha and TV series Partiana in 1992-93. 

Adds the director, “Since the film belongs to the 80s, today’s audience may not be able to relate to it, so we will have to modernise it. Moreover, I do not intend to make a frame to frame copy or show irrelevant content.”      

Will the success of the original help in creating hype for the remade version, like in the case of recent remakes like Don, Devdas and Umrao Jaan? “The brand value of Chashme Baddoor may not be as high, and it may not be as well known among today’s youth, but the fact remains that it was a nice film,” maintains Onir.

The original version starred Farouque Sheikh and Deepti Naval. The casting for its remake version is likely to commence after the scripting and the film will go on the floors late this year or early next year.