Ajay Devgan, and not Salman, is the remake / sequel specialist

Film critic and trade analyst Joginder Tuteja discusses the upcoming movies of Ajay Devgan in 2012 – 2013 and why he’s soon turning in to a remake / sequel specialist.

Ever since Prakash Jha announced that Ajay Devgan would be featuring in the sequel of ‘Gangaajal’, there has been a lot of buzz in the industry. Reason being an interesting trend that has emerged as per which Ajay Devgan is fast turning out to be a remake and sequel specialist. While the general belief is that Salman Khan is the one featuring in one remake/sequel after another, it is clear that Ajay Devgan is actually leading the pack. His ‘Bol Bachchan’ was a remake of (old) ‘Gol Maal’. His first release in 2012, ‘Tezz’ was an unofficial remake of ‘The Bullet Train’. Even last year’s ‘Singham’ was adapted from its namesake Tamil film.

The trend is only continuing with his upcoming release ‘Son of Sardaar’,  an official remake of Telugu flick ‘Maryada Ramanna’. This isn’t all as he is currently shooting for Sajid Khan’s ‘Himmatwala’ which is again a remake, though said to be re-modelled in a major way so as to come across as more of a homage than a scene-to-scene copy.

Though Ajay has dabbled with original subjects in the recent past, films like ‘Rascals’ have hardly added to his profile while ‘Aakrosh’ and ‘Toonpur Ka Superhero’ didn’t pay any dividends. ‘Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji’ did bring in decent revenue, but it was ‘Bol Bachchan’ and ‘Singham’ that struck box office gold. With Bollywood following the new found ‘mantra’ of remakes and sequels ensuring good returns more often than not, Ajay is seemingly happy to lead the trend even as he waits for a few good original subjects to really motivate him into taking a plunge.

This means, other than Prakash Jha’s ‘Satyagraha’ which is the only true blue original film, there are a spate of sequels in the offering. While the one leading the pack would be Jha’s ‘Gangaajal 2’, others in line are Rohit Shetty’s ‘Singham 2’ next year with talks about ‘Golmaal 4’ on as well.

With Salman Khan (Dabangg 2, Kick), Akshay Kumar (Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai 2, Boss), Aamir Khan (Dhoom 3), Hrithik Roshan (Krrish 3) boasting of being remakes/sequels too, the only actor whose next three films are all originals is Shahrukh Khan (Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Chennai Express, Happy New Year).

Guess it’s about time SRK too joins the bandwagon sooner or later.

Which upcoming Ajay Devgan movie in 2012 – 2013 are you waiting for? You can pick TWO from the list. Vote below!

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