The battle for the remake rights of the blockbuster film Theri starring Thalapathy Vijay kicked off a war between two of Bollywood’s biggest stars: Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan.
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Released in 2016 Theri was a massive hit and the 2nd highest grossing Tamil film of the year and both the actors were keen to recreate the same magic in Hindi cinema. After the film’s success Akshay Kumar expressed interest in acquiring the remake rights.
He had earlier enjoyed success with the Hindi version of another Vijay film Thupakki through Holiday and wanted to cash in on the same formula again. Reports suggested he had started talking to the original makers for the rights as Theri did well at the box office especially overseas.
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On the other hand, Shah Rukh Khan also wanted Theri and was planning to team up with director Rohit Shetty with whom he had earlier collaborated for hits like Chennai Express and Dilwale.
Their combined stardom was big enough to make this remake a blockbuster. But in a surprise twist neither Akshay nor Shah Rukh got the rights.
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Instead, Varun Dhawan emerged the winner and got the lead role in the Hindi remake directed by Kalees. Unfortunately for everyone involved this remake didn’t work and was a disaster at the box office.
So, what started as a competition to win cinematic glory ended in a dud and proved that even star power can’t guarantee success.