The name is Victoria. Victoria No. 203. Thirty-five years ago, it spelt blockbuster entertainment with a chartbusting zinger of a score. Establishing the concept of a crime comedy in Hindi films, it made Ashok Kumar and Pran a cult pair and made the towel that Saira Banu wore in the song Thoda sa thehero a synonym for seduction.

The film was produced and directed by Brij, with music by Kalyanji-Anandji. Replace Brij with his son Kamal Sadanah as producer (and a villain too!) and Ashok, Pran, Saira, Navin Nischol and villain Anwar Hussein respectively with Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Soniya Vinod Mehra, Jimmy Shergill and Jaaved Jafferi and - voila! - we have the millennium rollercoaster of the same name in an ‘inspired’ remake.

And why do we call it an ‘inspired’ remake? Says Kamal Brij Sadanah, “My father believed in pure entertainment and not ground-breaking cinema. My approach is more personalised, as I have directed a realistic film called Karkash, which I am hoping to release this year too. This is why I thought that I should entrust the film to someone else who could be more objective. Times have changed and today’s mainstream cinema has an element of realism.

“So we have also changed three characters even if the basic plotline and broad screenplay remain the same.”
The film could have been made with big stars, so why a team-up of Jimmy and Soniya? Kamal smiles, accepts the fact that one reason is that budgets become friendlier without big names, but adds that he is not comfortable with the concept of chasing and working with big stars.

“Content works, not stars,” he says succinctly. “Jimmy is a great artiste. As for Soniya, the results of her screen-test were amazing. And Anupam, Om and Jaaved are stars in their own right. Anupam even said sweetly that he would kill me if I did not cast him!”

This is why in a way Kamal is not worried about comparisons with the original. The character of Jaaved Jafferi is shown as a connoisseur of arts, whose girl is Preeti Jhangiani, a fresh character that did not exist in the old version. Jaaved is not shown as a hardcore criminal like his earlier counterpart but as someone rich enough to buy things who steals only as a last resort to add to his collection of objects d'art.

“Similarly, the lost-and-found formula that was incorporated with a lead star turning out to be a long-lost offspring of one of the older protagonists has been eliminated, says Kamal. “Such angles are not appreciated today,” points out the actor-producer.

And for good measure there is also a twist in the tale: Jimmy the hero has shades that are revealed midway - unlike the chocolate-faced paragon that Navin was in the earlier hit. And Kamal is especially happy that he traced the original story and screenplay writer K A Narayan and took him on board as a consultant.

“Narayansaab lives the life of a recluse after his peak-time when he wrote blockbusters galore,” says Ananth Narayan Mahadevan (Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, Tom Dick And Harry). “While accepting the changes, which include the fact that our film is shot extensively outdoors, he just cautioned us not to lose out on the emotional angle, and we have heeded his advice.”

That said, Ananth admits that he had a mental block about doing the film. “My friends kept telling me to accept Kamal’s offer, but the clincher was the RKB Show on Sahara’s channel, where when the audience was asked whether they would like a remake, the response was so phenomenal that I realised that the film was just asking to be remade!”

Ananth calls Victoria No. 203 the “first official remake” in recent times because the film is being made by the filmmaker’s son with music director Viju Shah, also being the son of Kalyanji, one of the original composers. He is very happy that his producer and he were on common ground about the changes needed.

“We also scrapped the sequence of Sairaji masquerading as a boy. But keeping in mind the cult status of the original, Soniya, my heroine, is doing the famous Thoda sa thehero song in the same situation,” he says.

And Soniya says,  “It may sound like a cliché, but I wasn’t a bit uncomfortable about exposing for the song because the script demanded it. Kamal himself is with me in the song as he plays Ranjeet’s character.”

It is on Kamal’s suggestion that at least for her first film, Soniya, daughter of the late actor Vinod Mehra, will be billed as Soniya Vinod Mehra.

Soniya has dubbed herself for the film, and that she says is a high that also touched her heart. “Kamal insisted that I do it and I had a lump in my throat. My dad could not dub his last film Patthar Ke Phool and the difference showed even in his brief role because he would have a very emotional way of delivering his dialogues.”

Another highpoint was that she shared several frames with her acting guru Anupam Kher, the man who insisted on Kamal and Ananth auditioning her. “I shared my first frame with him, and the shot was approved in the first take. He gave me a hug and I was so overwhelmed I forgot to even say ‘Thank you’ to him!”

Coming to the music, Do bechare is also redone by Amit Kumar (the son of Kishore Kumar who was one of the original singers) and Udit Narayan. The other two songs are fresh and an additional title-number in English is sung by Annika from Sweden.

Declares Ananth, “Viju is the rightful heir to the film. He has restructured the score beautifully.” And yes, the new, gleaming Victoria shown in the film is not the classical Mumbai version that still plies downtown but a custom-made specimen manufactured by Chandigarh-based manufacturers who export them.

So get set for a thrills-and-fun ride this September when the new Victoria No. 203 hits the marquee. Till then, thoda sa thehero.