First Look: Zanjeer's Telugu remake, Toofan

The very name Zanjeer, the cult classic that catapulted Amitabh Bachchan to success and tagged him as the 'angry young man', brings a load of memories even after so many decades.

Director Apoorva Lakhia who has helmed Hindi films like Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost, Ek Ajnabee, Shootout at Lokhandwala, and Mission Istanbul is remaking Zanjeer in Hindi and Telugu.

This bi-lingual titled Zanjeer in Hindi and Toofan in Telugu stars Ram Charan Tej, and Priyanka Chopra as the main leads. The rest of the cast in Telgu vesion include Srihari and Prakash Raj.

The cast and crew of Zanjeer/Toofan were in Hyderabad to unveil the logo and trailers of the Telugu version. Union Minister of State for Tourism K Chiranjeevi was the chief guest at the event and also there to support his son.

Sanjay Lamba (CEO) and Mahesh Ramanathan (COO), Reliance Entertainment, producer of the film, unveiled the logo. Actors Tanikella Bharani and Srihari launched one trailer while Chiranjeevi did the honours for the second trailer.

Chiranjeevi said he was happy being a part of this curtain raiser. "I am proud that Charan is doing Amitabh Bachchan's Zanjeer remake. I'm also a bit jealous that he is doing his Hindi film within three years of entering films whereas I took 12 years to do Pratibandh."

"Charan's body language, expressions are all fantastic. If people ask me what my life's achievement is, I would say my son."

Apoorva Lakhia released the song Mumbai Ka Hero. He said, "It's an honour to be in Charan's home town. It's my first Telugu film and it was a great challenge and experience. I must thank Yogi and Kamlakar for helping me with the lines and all the actors for help with the dialogues."

Lakhia went on to say, "Essentially, the film follows the basic storyline of the original, of a cop taking on the bad guys, but is different in its contemporariness. The setting is more modern."

Priyanka Chopra, the leading lady dressed in a simple off-shoulder knee-length dress, mentioned that she had acted in a Telugu film Apuroopam long ago and that she had made her acting debut with a Tamil film (Thamizhan).

"I'm proud of that. I finished both the versions of Zanjeer. Every single time I came to Hyderabad, Charan's parents and Upasna (his wife) treated me like family. The food was sent from their house. I got to eat all the different kinds of Hyderabadi food. Toofan will be a wonderful film."

Charan began by saying, "I did the film because of Apoorva Lakhia. I have to prove myself as my father's son and at the same time I needed to match a film done by Amitabh Bachchan. But Apoorva was persistent and said I should hear the script at least as a separate film and not as a remake. After four months, I heard the story and liked it and thought of doing it."

Srihari, who essays Sher Khan in Toofan, rattled off a few dialogues from the film. Srihari and Charan team up in Toofan after Magadheera.

Tanikella Bharani was full of praise for Apoorva Lakhia. "The way he picturised some scenes was good. He will become a great director."

Toofan is expected to hit theatres this summer.