Top 15 Bollywood Movies That Are Remakes of South Indian Movies

South Indian Movies Remakes: From Hera Pheri to Ghajini, Top 15 Bollywood Movies That Are Remakes of South Indian Movies.

There was a time when South Indian movies were the main sources of funny GIFs and memes, we never thought of them as serious cinema. However, things have changed now. South Indian movies are a rage not only in India but overseas as well. In fact, these days, Bollywood filmmakers are remaking or duplicating South Indian movies like anything.

However, this is not an old trend. Bollywood filmmakers have been remaking South Indian movies for a long time. There is a big list of Bollywood movies that are based on South Indian movies be it Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Kannada. Here’s presenting you the top 15 Bollywood movies based on South Indian movies:

Judwaa

Judwaa is one of the most successful movies of David Dhawan’s career. Salman Khan played a double role in the movie. Judwaa is a remake of the 1994 Telugu movie Hello Brother, which itself is based on the 1992 Jackie Chan’s movie Twin Dragons.

Biwi No. 1

David Dhawan’s romantic comedy movie Biwi No.1 featuring Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Sushmita Sen, Anil Kapoor and Tabu was a remake of the 1995 Tamil movie Sathi Leelavathi. The plot of this movie even inspired the hit Kannada comedy movie Rama Shama Bhama.

Hera Pheri

Voted as the best Bollywood comedy movie of all time in an online poll conducted by The Indian Express, Hera Pheri by Priyadarshan was the remake of the 1989 Malayalam movie Ramji Rao Speaking which itself was based on the 1971 TV movie See The Man Run.

Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein

Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein has a cult following among Indian youth and it was a remake of the popular 2001 Tamil film Minnale. Directed by Gautham Menon, the movie features R. Madhavan, Diya Mirza and Saif Ali Khan in the lead roles. RHTDM marks Madhavan’s debut in Bollywood.

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Saathiya

Shaad Ali’s directional venture Saathiya was a remake of the Tamil movie Alaipayuthey, which was directed by Mani Ratnam. Mani produced Saathiya, featuring Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukherji and AR Rahman gave the music for both the films.

Tere Naam

Tere Naam was directed by Satish Kaushik and written by Bala and Jainendra Jain. The movie features Salman Khan and Bhoomika Chawla, who made her Bollywood debut with this. The film was based on a real-life incident of a friend of Bala’s and was a remake of Bala’s own directional venture, a 1999 Tamil film Sethu.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Priyadarshan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa was an official remake of the 1993 Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu, which was already remade into several Indian films. Bhool Bhulaiyaa was probably the most successful of them all.

Ghajini

A. R. Murugadoss remade his own 2005 Tamil movie of the same name in Bollywood. The Hindi remake featured Aamir Khan and Asin in lead roles. It was the first Hindi movie to cross the ₹100 crore mark. The film’s main plot was adapted from Christopher Nolan’s Memento and the comedy plot was inspired by the 1951 British movie Happy Go Lovely.

Force

Nishikanth Kamath’s action thriller Force was a remake of Gautham Menon’s successful 2003 Tamil film Kaakha Kaakha. The movie had John Abraham, Genelia D’Souza in the lead and also introduced action hero Vidyut Jammwal into Bollywood.

Singham

Rohit Shetty’s Singham is the remake of the 2010 Tamil movie Singam, which was directed by Hari. It featured Ajay Devgn in the titular role alongside Kajal Aggarwal and Prakash Raj as the antagonist.

Wanted

Directed by Prabhu Deva, Wanted was a game-changer for Salman Khan. Do you know that it was an official Hindi remake of the 2006 Telugu movie Pokiri? 

Rowdy Rathore

Starring Akshay Kumar in double roles, Rowdy Rathore is a remake of the 2006 Telugu blockbuster Vikramarkudu. The original movie was helmed by Baahubali director S. S. Rajamouli, based on an original story written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad.

Garam Masala

Directed by Priyadarshan, Garam Masala is one of the best comedy movies of Akshay Kumar’s career. It is a remake of Priyadarshan’s own 1985 movie Boeing Boeing which itself was a remake of a 1965 movie of the same name which in turn was based on the 1960 French play of the same name. Kya baat hai.

Nayak: The Real Hero

One of the most popular Bollywood movies on TV, Anil Kapoor’s Nayak is actually a remake. Directed by Shankar, Nayak is a remake of Shankar’s 1999 Tamil-language movie Mudhalvan.

Drishyam

This list won’t be complete without the mention of Drsihyam. Jeethu Joseph’s thriller drama Drishyam broke every single box office record in Malayalam when it was released. It went on to become the first movie to hit Rs.50 crore mark in the industry.

Following its success, it has been remade into five other languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and Sinhala. The Hindi version starred Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Shriya Saran in lead roles.