Anil Kapoor Talks ‘The Night Manager’ Hindi Adaptation, Upcoming Film Work & Choosing International Projects
deadline.comWhen Anil Kapoor was offered a lead role in the Hindi adaptation of UK drama series The Night Manager, his first thought was how he could apply what he’d learned while making the Indian version of U.S.
crime drama 24. Kapoor plays the role of an international arms dealer, played by Hugh Laurie in the original English-language series, based on the John le Carre novel, while Aditya Roy Kapur has been cast as the solider turned hotel night manager infiltrating his circle, played by Tom Hiddleston in the original show.
After being approached by Disney+ Hotstar content chief Gaurav Banerjee to play the role, he started watching the English series, which had been broadcast by BBC and AMC in 2016 and streamed by Amazon Prime Video in India. “I was impressed by the original, but we had some very strong writers and talent attached to the remake from an early stage, so felt we’d be able to pull it off,” says Kapoor, in a wide-ranging interview with Deadline. “I wanted to bring in everything I’d learned, and also unlearned, while making 24 in India,” he continues. “Of course we knew we had to do it according to Indian sensibilities and the socio-political situation here.
I’m supposed to be an arms dealer, but what was the conflict and who am I selling arms to? I’d read books and heard about people like [Saudi arms dealer] Adnan Khashoggi, but there’s no real face to arms dealing here to base my character on.” When he saw the work done by showrunner Sandeep Modi and his team of writers, he felt assured that it stood up to the original.
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