U Turn director Pawan Kumar convinced that bilinguals are the way to go

When Pawan Kumar's U Turn released in Kannada in 2012, it was hugely successful and the box office collection was estimated at Rs 7.5 crore after its 100-day run. The recently-released Telugu and Tamil versions, however, have surpassed expectations with a collection of 14 crore in four days. Going by the success, Pawan says that he has figured out the success formula of films: Make more bilinguals.     

"It shows that bilinguals have a bigger market, something I've understood while shooting these remakes. From now, this will be my plan," says Pawan, who is surprised and elated that the audience has received his latest outing with enthusiasm. 

Interestingly, the filmmaker was originally apprehensive about remaking U Turn in other languages. "The original is available on Netflix and on YouTube for Rs 25. So I wondered if the audience would come to theatres for it. The business it has made shows that it really doesn't matter. In fact, it encourages me to make more bilinguals," he says. 

With this success, Pawan has also broken the notion that Kannada films, when remade in other languages, don't work. "Unlike other films, where the directors are different from the original films, I directed U Turn's remakes myself. Maybe, this made this difference," says the director, who also feels that roping in local actors and adapting the film to local sensibilities worked. "I also changed the last 30 minutes of the film, and took the thrill factor a notch higher in the remakes."