Recently, we reported about director Sibi Malayil's 1989 film Kireedam, starring Mohanlal in the lead, hitting theatres again soon in the 4K format. Following the release of its 4K trailer, there has been much discourse over the restored version and comparisons between it and the 2007 Tamil remake.
While netizens compare the Malayalam original and the Tamil version as well as Mohanlal and Ajith Kumar's performances in both, it is worth looking at what the 2007 adaptation's director said about it. In an interview with Rediff, director AL Vijay talked about working under Priyadarshan, about Ajith Kumar's performance in his directorial debut, and more.
According to reports, Ajith told the film's producer Suresh Balaje and the director not to remake the film scene by scene out of sheer respect for Mohanalal and his 1989 film. Reportedly, Ajith was conscious of not spoiling the sanctity of the classic Malayalam film.
Interestingly, Vijay said to Rediff that his mentor Priyadarshan also told him not to remake the Malayalam film scene by scene. The legendary filmmaker told his disciple to take only the core idea of its story and adapt it for Tamil sensibilities. He said both films have the same soul, but the Tamil audience required more clarity and exaggeration as compared to Malayalam cinema to make the film commercially viable.
Vijay also said that he had Ajith onboard because of his acting talent. Calling him "a fine actor" and "the best part of the film," the director added that Ajith's performance in it is "tremendous," that the actor never behaved like a major star on set and that he did not interfere with the making. "He gave me total freedom and made me very comfortable," Vijay said about his debut film's lead actor.
The filmmaker made a special note of Ajith's performance in the climax of Kireedam, calling it 'mesmerising'. While Kireedam (2007) did not become the landmark film in Tamil that Ajith and Vijay expected it to, it did win the actor plenty of appreciation from the audience.
