Murad Khetani beats Karan Johar to acquire the remake rights of Tamil blockbuster Master

By: Mohnish Singh

According to reports, Cine1Studios’ Murad Khetani has acquired the remake rights of the Tamil film Master (2021), which recently released to packed houses in India. Khetani, who previously remade cult Telugu film Arjun Reddy (2017) as Kabir Singh (2019), has reportedly beaten Dharma Productions’ head honcho Karan Johar to buy the remake rights of the Tamil blockbuster, which stars Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi in lead roles.

A source in the know informs an entertainment portal, “Karan Johar was also trying to get the rights to make Master in Hindi. He was trying really hard but when Murad got a hang of it, he quietly raised his price and bagged the deal.”

The source goes on to reveal that Murad Khetani shelled out more than 600 million to ensure that he gets the official rights of the film, beating other contenders. “Murad is keen on making several remakes in the next few years. There is Thadam, then there is Namak Halal and now, Master. He paid over ₹6 crore (600 million) just for the rights. He had earlier paid around ₹4-5 crore (400-500 million) for Arjun Reddy’s official rights, but the moment he heard KJo is also at the other end, he raised his amount and got it. The team is now putting it all together and reworking the script for the Hindi audience. Casting will happen only once the scripting is done,” concludes the source.

Meanwhile, Murad Khetani is presently gearing up to begin production on the Hindi remake of the super hit Tamil film Thadam (2019). The remake, which stars Sidharth Malhotra in a dual role, was originally set to get off the ground in 2020, but the sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic threw all plans out of gear. Khetani has joined hands with his frequent collaborator Bhushan Kumar to co-produce the project.

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