Boney Kapoor on Vikram Vedha and Jersey’s box office failure: They are ‘copy-pasted’ remakes, even the titles are the same

Producer Boney Kapoor has shared his thoughts on why the recent Hindi adaptations of South Indian films are failing to find success in Bollywood. Boney said that movies like Vikram Vedha and Jersey lack the North Indian nativity which is essential to cater to the Hindi audience. Boney is producing Mili, a Hindi remake of Malayalam hit Helen that will have daughter Janhvi Kapoor in the lead. 
In an interview with Times Of India, Boney said that Hindi remakes of South films are not working because they are ‘copy-pasted.’ Citing examples of Vikram Vedha and Jersey, Boney said that even titles are the same as the original films. “While remaking South films, one has to add the North Indian nativity to suit the Hindi audience. You have to make a film which will be accepted pan India,” Boney added. 

Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan’s Vikram Vedha which was released in September this year, had managed to collect Rs.100 crore worldwide. The film’s directors, Pushkar and Gayathri, who also helmed the original, made numerous attempts to reassure audiences that the film was ‘completely different’ from the Tamil hit. According to a report in Hindustan Times, Gayathri had said, “We never felt like we were recreating a scene. We had long discussions on sets on how to do this scene or that scene. And not once did we think of doing it the way it was earlier. The soul is the same but it’s completely different.” 
Hrithik also agreed with Gayathri and had said,  “We were trying to portray Vikram as Saif has played him and Vedha as I have played him. We were actually creating new, not recreating.” The original film starred R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi. 

However, when the movie first came out, the general consensus was that it would appeal to the audiences who had not seen the original. Despite positive reviews, the movie didn’t create wonders at the box-office. 
As for Shahid Kapoor’s Jersey, it was a Hindi remake of 2019 Telugu film of the same name. According to reports, the film made Rs.19 crore at the domestic box office.
Boney had made Amitabh Bachchan’s Pink in Tamil with Ajith Kumar’s Nerkonda Paarvai. He had earlier adapted Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri as Wanted with Salman Khan. Okkadu was remade as Arjun Kapoor’s Tevar while Telugu film Subhalagnam was made as Judaai with Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar.