Dulquer Salmaan on remakes: ‘Just because a film is loved, you can’t milk it’

Dulquer Salmaan promoted Sita Ramam’s Hindi version in Mumbai on Friday with his co-star Mrunal Thakur. At the press meet, the actor reacted sternly when he was asked who would he like to see in the Hindi remake of Sita Ramam.
Revealing why he thinks remaking a film is not a great idea, Dulquer said, “Even before I became an actor, I knew then that if there is a classic film, if the film is really loved, is a huge hit, not to touch it. We all genuinely believed and hoped that Sita Ramam would be an epic, a classic film but we were not sure. We put our heart and soul, blood and sweat, everything into the film.”
He added, “Sorry, I don’t think it is a film that can be made again, honestly. Every time we love a classic film, I don’t think you should do a sequel, or do anything. I know it as an actor. I len to scrips from all over the country, I do films in four languages. I have done 35+ films and I know how difficult it is to find something like this. Just because it is loved and done so well, you can’t milk it. It is like the golden egg story. You can’t kill the goose.”
Dulquer Salmaan had earlier said that he wanted to explore more genres and grey characters and not stick to doing romantic films. On why he took a break from doing romantic films recently, the actor said, “I don’t like tags. As it is I have a big tag looming over my entire career in the form of my father’s name. So, I didn’t want another one where I’m a romantic hero or something like that. So, I was like let me take a break for some time. Not just to show you guys, but also myself that I can do other things.”

Sita Ramam released in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam in August, but now the Hindi version has hit screens. Dulquer said while he was keen on releasing a Hindi version too, there were some logical issues about not getting enough screens.
The actor said, “When you do a film like this, in multiple languages, it is difficult to plan the release. If a very big film, like RRR, is coming (then) everybody will make way for it. It is like the arrival of a big ship and all the small boats move out of the way. I don’t think we were a big ship. We’re a fairly small, ok boat.”
He added, “The movie had the best release day in Telugu. We got lucky as it was a fairly good weekend in Tamil too. But it wasn’t a good week in Malayalam, as we got good competition. So, I think all of that decided our release. And in Hindi, at that time there were a lot of big films coming out. There were these massive films lined up and we didn’t know if we would even get a chance to breathe. You come and release and maybe not get screens. I have experienced things like that many times where my films have released but we don’t get screens, or good show timings as there are bigger, more exciting films out there which the audience wants to go and see. So, there is a lot of economics and logics that kind of decide a film’s release. Also, it is a love story, a genre that is not something that we see doing huge numbers or bringing audiences in large numbers to theatres.”
Many fans are comparing Sita Ramam to Shah Rukh Khan ‘s Veer Zaara. On the comparison with SRK, Dulquer Salmaan said, “I am a huge Shah Rukh sir fan, both on screen and off screen. He is such a model for all of us to follow, specially how he treats people, how he talks to them, how respectful he is towards women. Shah Rukh sir is a kind of person that when you have hundreds and thousands of people in a room, but whenever he is talking to you, you feel like you are the only person in the room. He is very special. I have grown up loving his films and watched DDLJ multiple times in theatre with my ser. He’s always been an inspiration. In some way, I don’t know what it is, even when I had doubts about becoming an actor, I’d be like…He’s such a strong personality and not just as an actor. He has so much charm and how he interacts with people. So, I’m sure I have been influenced in maybe how I interact with people. It is there somewhere, subconsciously. But comparing me to him is almost like insulting him because there is only one Shah Rukh Khan.”
Sita Ramam is running in theatres in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. It is also streaming on Amazon Prime Video.