By Subhash K Jha

The Diwali hit Son Of Sardaar (SOS) is the official remake of Tamil super-director S Rajamouli's Maryada Ramanna. However the remake has deviated drastically from the original.

Says the SOS director Ashwin Dhir `I'd love Rajamouli to watch our film and tell us what he thinks of the changes that we've made in the original. We've deviated considerably from Rajamouli's film. In Maryada Ramanna the lead is played by a famous comic actor of the South (Sunil) . When Ajay Devgn took over the role, the comic element had to be seriously modified. `

Ashwin also reveals that SOS fell into his lap by default. `You see, Ajay and I were actually working on another film, a remake of a Hollywood film.

I had already gone halfway with the scripting when we realized to our horror that we would be unable to get the remake rights of the original film. Our project fell apart. That's when Ajay suggested I watch Maryada Ramanna and remake it only if I liked it. I liked the core idea and decided to adapt it to a Punjabi milieu. `

And the rest is history?

Laughs Ashwin, `Not quite. But the film is doing well. I wanted to keep the comedy free of vulgarity so that the entire family can laugh without squirming. I succeeded in that. We knew we were making a Diwali film. So we modified the original film accordingly. Only later did I come to know that Maryada Ramanna is a remake of a Silent film Our Hospitality. Before that I had never heard of the silent film. `

Would Rajamouli approve of the drastic changes, specially since the famed softspoken Southern director considers Maryada Ramanna his career's best film so far?

When this writer contacted S. Rajamouli refrained from commenting on the remake saying, `Firstly, it isn't my story. I was myself inspired by a Silent Film called Our Hospitality. Secondly, once they bought the remake rights of Maryada Ramanna it belongs to them and they've every right to alter the plot in any way they want. `