By Subhash K Jha

The remake rights of Jatt & Juliet the biggest hit in Punjabi cinema of all times, has been secured by producers Himesh Reshammiya and Rakesh Upadhyay the team that has just released the comic romp Khiladi 786.

It therefore comes as no surprise to hear that Akshay Kumar is likely to play the lead in the Hindi adaptation of Jatt & Juliet. The all-time blockbuster of a Punjabi romance starred Diljit Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa as a rustic Punjabi and a sophisticated fashion designer who keep bumping into one another in Canada.

The Punjabi film has been itching for a Bollywood interpretation. We now hear that following Khiladi 786 Reshammiya and Upadhyay have joined hands to do Jatt & Juliet in Hindi.

The Hindi remake would be directed by Anurag Singh who directed the Punjabi smash.

Producer Rakesh Upadhyay while admitting that the Jatt & Juliet remake would start early next year refrains from commenting on the cast. `At the moment I wouldn't like to comment on the cast. But yes, Himesh and I are going ahead with two projects.

One of them is a thriller and the other is the remake of Jatt & Juliet. The Punjabi film was also produced by Himesh and me. We'll do the remake on a much more lavish scale. But the basic plot of Jatt &Juliet is so endearing it needs no embellishment in Hindi. `


Press him about Akshay's presence in Jatt and Juliet, and Upadhyay laughs, `We've just delivered a film that has been immensely liked. So Himesh, Akshay and I would definitely not like to break the team. Like I said, until all the formalities are completed it'd be unwise to talk about the casting. `

Himesh and Rakesh Upadhyay intend to continue producing films together.

`After Khiladi 786 Himesh has ten hardbound scripts ready. We're both workaholics. We'll continue to collaborate on mass-entertainment films. We want to make the kind of films that make people smile and laugh. `