Last Friday, a trailer for a new Hindi film Khel Khel Mein was released. It featured Akshay Kumar along with six other stars. Many found the premise funny, others called it Akshay’s ‘glorious comeback’. A few still pointed out that it looked eerily similar to French film Nothing To Hide. The truth is that both the films are official remakes of this one Italian film, which has been remade across the world more times than any other film.
World’s most remade film
The 2016 Italian dramedy Perfetti Sconosciuti (transl Perfect Strangers) has been remade a staggering 26 times in just eight years. The Guinness Book of World Records also recognises it as the most remade film. It’s 2023 citation mentions 24 remakes of the film, including Nothing to Hide (French), Intimate Strangers (Korean), Kill Mobile (Mandarin), Loud Connection (Russian), and Wild Game (Icelandic). Many languages such as Arabic, Romanian, Hebrew, and German have kept the title the same – Perfect Strangers. The film has been adapted by Indian makers thrice as well. Kannada film Loudspeaker was an official remake, while Malayalam film 12th Man and Telugu film Richie Gadi Pelli were uncredited adaptations.
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Why Perfect Strangers has no Hollywood remake
Perfect Strangers follows a polite dinner party's descent into bitter recriminations following the decision to test a guest's assertion that no relationship can survive partners having unfettered access to each others’ phones. The film’s Guinness World record citation explains that why there is no Hollywood remake of the film despite it being a global rage. “As of January 2024, the list of remakes does not include one in English. This is because the English-language rights were acquired in 2017 by the Weinstein Company and production of the film was then delayed indefinitely by the company's financial collapse, which occurred in the wake of the criminal charges brought against its founder, Harvey Weinstein,” it reads.
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All about Khel Khel Mein
Now, the premise is coming to Bollywood in the form of Khel Khel Mein, directed by Mudassar Aziz. Apart from Akshay Kumar, the film also stars Ammy Virk, Taapsee Pannu, Vaani Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Aditya Seal, and Pragya Jaiswal. The film is slated to release on 15 August.
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