Almost all Priyadarshan films - mostly comedies - are remakes of yesteryear Malayalam films. In fact even his dramatic films like GARDISH and VIRASAT were not original affairs. While GARDISH was a remake of Mohanlal starrer Malayalam film KIREEDAM, THEVAR MAGAN (Kamal Hassan) was the reference point for VIRASAT. In fact very recently, Priyadarshan's BUMM BUMM BOLE was also an adaptation of Iranian film CHILDREN OF HEAVEN. This is the reason why when the promos of AAKROSH hit the air, there were murmurs again and the revelation was startling.
"Similarities with Hollywood flick MISSISSIPPI BURNING are way too obvious in case of AAKROSH", continues the observer, "In MISSISSIPPI BURNING, the two actors played FBI agents who were assigned the job of investigating the murder of civil rights workers in a small town where segregation divided black and white. Now let's look at the plotline of AAKROSH. In this Kumar Mangat production, Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna play cops who visit a small town in Northern part of India to investigate the murders which have taken in the name of honour killing."
However, when questioned, producer Kumar Mangat spins a different tale altogether. He denies having even heard of a film called MISSISSIPPI BURNING and instead reiterates that AAKROSH picks its threads from a newspaper article in 2001 which highlighted honour killing in India.
"I don't have any clue about this film you are talking about", Mangat sounds surprised with the insinuation here, "In fact the very idea for the film comes from an article that had appeared in a leading national newspaper. Though honour killing is into news big time today due to the advent of media, at that time it had just started making headlines."
Well, with Mangat coming up with his side of the story, one waits for 1st October to arrive when the film would be up for release.
