Ajay Devgn took on Shah Rukh Khan with 'Son of Sardaar'

Spread over the past nine weeks, this column saw how nine hit films from Telugu film industry were remade into Hindi between 2000-2009 and what its ultimate fate at the box offices across the upcountry territory and elsewhere turned out to be.

Quite interestingly, the beginning of the second decade, 2010, turned out to be promising. It was once again the trusted name, S S Rajamouli, who came to the rescue of his parent industry. His 2010 release 'Maryada Ramanna', a rib-tickling action remake from a Hollywood hit gave a great height to comedian Sunil, who had just taken up his second assignment as a hero.

Two years later, Ajay Devgn reprised the film as 'Son of Sardaar' with a high-power star cast comprising Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha as his heroine. The director had retained the plot and revamped the story and narration to suit the viewing preferences of the Hindi audience which gave the thumbs up to this action-comedy.

Though there were protests from the Punjabi Cultural Heritage Board regarding a few scenes which were promptly addressed, what remained in public domain was the spat which Devgn got into with Yash Raj Films over their competing schedule with his film.

'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' of Shah Rukh Khan was another Diwali release of that year and according to Devgn, YRF had arm-twisted multiplexes to allot their film more screens than that of his. He filed a case in the Competition Commission of India which dismissed the case subsequently. For their part, Yash Raj Films denied that they were being monopolistic with the exhibition of their film and it was a media sensation for a while with both sides raising enough dust. It was also rumoured that both the heroes were now hostile to each other, after having an uneasy relationship earlier.

The notable point was, both films did not impress the critics all that much and the public too gave its support rather tepidly to the Ajay Devgn starrer, which creaked its way to the box office. Statistically, the film worked well as it was made on a budget of Rs 30 crore and went on to earn Rs 161 crore as its lifetime earnings.