Chennai, Feb 17
The Tamil superhit film, ‘96’, which is also hailed as a cult classic featuring actors Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha in the lead, was originally written for Hindi cinema, its director Prem Kumar has now disclosed.

Premkumar made this disclosure while participating in the seventh edition of the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC) hosted by the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA).

The 2018 blockbuster followed the reunion of former students from the batch of 1996, twenty-two years after their graduation.

Prem Kumar said, "'96' was originally written for Hindi cinema, and I wanted to pitch it to Abhishek Bachchan, but I didn't have the contacts!"

Kumar, who was in conversation with film critic Suchin Mehrotra, explained why '96' organically lent itself to be a Bollywood film and added that he has now finished writing a new Hindi film script.

"I know Hindi very well, and my father grew up in North India. So, I was constantly exposed to Hindi cinema in my childhood. My favourite actor was Naseeruddin Shah. I have written a script for Hindi now. The main reason for my interest in Hindi cinema is the diversity of the audience and not the scale," he said.

Kumar, who helmed last year's acclaimed drama 'Meiyazhagan', was speaking in the session titled 'The South Saga - Rooted, Relevant, and

Revolutionary', where he was joined by filmmakers Christo Tomy ('Ullozhukku'), Hemanth M Rao ('Sapta Sagaradaache Ello - Side A & Side B') and Vivek Athreya ('Saripodha Sanivaaram').

Tomy, whose riveting thriller-drama ‘Ullozhukku’ starring Urvashi and Parvathy Thiruvothu was produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Honey Trehan and Abhishek Chaubey, said he struggled for eight years to make a film with a female lead.

"I don't think I would have gotten this kind of a budget if I had made it with producers from Kerala. In Kerala, when you're trying to make a project with a female star, things get difficult and I would avoid doing it because, for them, stars only mean male leads. In the other aspects of the industry, though, like directing or writing, many female artists are coming up and the environment is getting better," Tomy added.

Hemanth M Rao said that there was a "huge problem" brewing in the Kannada industry of writers not being "valued".

"They are seen as an afterthought or as a tool. I think the South is trying to catch up to the way writers are treated in Mumbai. In the Kannada film industry, we do not have a place to register our scripts, so for us, SWA is pan-Indian because there is no other body for us," he added.

Athreya also backed Rao and said how a lot of writers have turned into directors because "they do not get their due credit and are not paid properly."

"It is not right on any terms but this is what happens, and so they get into direction even though they don't have the interest to direct," the filmmaker added.

Vijay Sethupathi,Trisha Krishnan-starrer '96' was originally written as a Bollywood film, says director Prem Kumar