Anbil Avan in talks for a Hindi remake, Telugu next

Anbil Avan is heading beyond Tamil. Producer Abinaya Selvam of Happy High Pictures said talks are under way to remake the film in Hindi, and that a Telugu remake is also planned. She shared the news as the team gathered to thank audiences and the press for the response to the Ashok Selvan and Preity Mukhundhan romance, which opened on October 2.

Ashok, who stars in and co-produces the film with his sister, said it had grown steadily despite releasing into heavy competition and had now reached a profitable position. He placed it in the line of films like Oh My Kadavule that audiences had carried for him. “It starts as a love story and travels through thriller and action,” he said. “It may have a few flaws. But I believe its heart and soul are in the right place.” He asked viewers not to rely on other people’s opinions and to see it for themselves, adding that he expects the film to be talked about even more in years to come.

Preity gave the evening’s most vivid memory. She was so nervous at the first screening that she could not sit through it from the start. She slipped in after the film had begun and watched it standing on the side stairs for about an hour and a half, with Kaarthikeyan and Ashok nearby. “Tears came,” she said. “Whatever the response would be, I felt so proud of what we had made.” She said she had read every review and thanked critics for noticing the effort and passion behind the film. Messages from women and young girls had moved her most, she said, as had the attention her scenes with the inspector character were getting on social media. Calling it the last time the team would talk about the film on stage, she admitted the moment felt emotional.

Director R. Kaarthikeyan said a film needs to do two things: make money for its producers and reach the people it was made for, and Anbil Avan had done both. Viewers writing to him about the film’s portrait of men who love their families had touched the team, he said, and he singled out Preity’s work in the climax. He described Ashok as a guide in cinema the way his father had been in life. When he handed Ashok his first screenplay, the actor read it and called the next day to say he loved it. “He has done more for this film than I ever asked.” He also thanked Vignesh Raja, whose story he shaped into the screenplay.

Abinaya thanked the cast and crew, including cinematographer Gowtham Rajendran, composer Govind Vasantha and editor Selva, and said the response from the first day through the weekend had given the team real joy. Kavitha, who produced and led the film’s promotions, said the number of theatres and shows had risen every day since release, and that the momentum picked up sharply after Saturday as news about the film kept spreading.

Creative producer Abraham said the team receives hundreds of messages from viewers every day. The aim at Happy High, he said, was for audiences not to forget a film when the lights come up, but to keep thinking and talking about it at home. The film took two years and plenty of challenges to make, and Ashok and Abinaya had risked everything on it. Abraham welcomed sharing theatres with Baththa, Mandaadi, Meesaya Murukku 2 and Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai, films he said were widening the boundaries of Tamil cinema, and argued that success should not be measured by collections alone. “It is a film for people in love, people who want to fall in love, people who married for love, and people trying to protect that love after marriage. It will make you laugh and cry. You will agree with some of it and disagree with some of it. But you will take it home with you.”

The supporting actors spoke about what the film had changed for them. Maha Delhi Ganesh said only his family knew how much Anbil Avan meant to him and how much it had changed his life, and thanked Ashok, Kaarthikeyan, Preity and Abinaya, as well as his mother, who was in the audience. Kadirbalu, who thanked his guru P. Vasu and mentor Radha Ravi, said he came into cinema dreaming of becoming a director like his father and still holds on to that dream. The film had given him a new identity, he said, teaching him to play a villain through performance rather than shouting. He recalled shooting fights with Peter Hein from night until the next morning in the cold. Aakash Murugan, who plays Nagaraj, said Ashok picked him for the role after watching one of his short films.

That was a theme Ashok returned to. He had gone through many auditions himself before breaking in, he said, so giving talented people a fair chance mattered to him as a producer. He hoped the film had given actors like Maha, Kadirbalu, Aakash, Praveen and Deepan the recognition they deserved.

The crew had their own stories. Art director Manikandan Srinivasan said he joined after the original art director had to step away for health reasons and Ashok called him in. Many sets meant for Munnar were built in Chennai instead, which also brought costs down. Costume designer Binita Ramanathan, working on her first film, thanked Kaarthikeyan, Ashok and Preity for being easy to design for. Peter Hein’s son Kiran Hein confessed the family was too shy to have prepared a speech, but said the team deserved every bit of the love it was getting, and asked the press to help bring more people to theatres. Anbil Avan is still running in theatres, and Kavitha said the promotions team is still working to take it to more people.