Feroz Khan's "Kurbani"

The next remake on the anvil is Feroz Khan's "Kurbani". This is a remake of his own previous film by the same name Qurbani. Please note the difference in spelling as Q had to give way for K. You may call it the effect of numerology on today's film-makers.

The previous Qurbani was released in the year 1980 was a big hit and now has become a cult film. The movie had Feroz Khan, Vinod Khanna, Zeenat Aman and Amjad Khan in leading roles. The music by Kalyanji Anandji was a huge hit with Laila O Laila and Hum Tumhe Chahte Hai Aise being chart busters. The movie had the style and flamboyance of Feroz Khan written all over it.

So far, Fardeen Khan has been finalised to play Feroz Khan's role for the remake. Saif Ali Khan was rumoured to be a part of the cast but that seems to have not worked out. It would be interesting to see how Feroz Khan remakes his own classic!

Other actors who will be seen in the remake will be Feroz Khan (doing Amjad Khan's role) and Jackie Shroff (doing Amrish Puri's role). The music for the remake is being composed by Anand Raaj Anand.

J. P. Dutta's Umrao Jaan

Another re-make in the pipeline is J. P. Dutta's "Umrao Jaan" starring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Shabana Azmi and Sunil Shetty. The music is by Anu Malik.

The earlier classic was directed by Muzaffar Ali (1981) is a cult movie and truly a classic! It had a stellar star cast of Rekha, Farooq Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah, Shaukat Kaifi Azmi, Raj Babbar. The music was by Khayyam and till date remains one of the most beautiful compositions of all time. This also remains one of Rekha's best performances.

The songs "In Aankhon Ki Masti" and "Dil Cheez Kya Hai" are definitely two of Asha Bhonsle's best renditions ever.

Interestingly, Shabana Azmi plays the role of Khanum Jaan which was essayed by her mother Shaukat Kaifi Azmi in the earlier version.

It would be be a tall order for Aishwarya Rai to pull off a Rekha and it would be a big task for J. P. Dutta to re-create the magic of Umrao Jaan that has been already immortalised on the celluloid by Muzaffar Ali.

Farhan Akhtar's "Don"

The next (most likely) big release of a remake is Farhan Akhtar's Don which is the more stylized version of earlier Don which was released in 1978.

The earlier version was directed by Chandra Barot starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftikhar, Om Shiv Puri and Helen. This movie was a big hit and the music by Kalyanji Anandji was a big hit as well.

Farhan Akhtar's Don stars Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Boman Irani. The music is by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy. Farhan has retained two songs from the earlier Don. One is the cult Khaike Pan Banaraswala and the other one (I am not sure though) is Yeh Mera Dil. Kareena Kapor is slated to do a Helen and Arjun Rampal is said to do a Pran in this stylized version.

We can only wait and watch as to how this re-make would turn out to be. Frankly speaking, I am a fan of Farhan Akhtar and at the cost of sounding biased, I would like to say that Don's remake would be a good film.