Ghilli to Pokkiri: Telugu Remakes Turned Vijay into Superstar

Vijay’s dominating win in the Tamil Nadu state elections has been the hot topic of discussion in the town for the last few days. Despite the appreciation, many people are criticizing this win, claiming it is completely due to his massive stardom rather than people’s trust in his ideologies or political strategies.

However, Vijay’s win is historical and his debut election has ended up as a blockbuster success. The major reason behind the massive success of Vijay is his movies and his script selection for his movies, as most of his blockbuster films were commercial entertainers with a strong social message. Consequently, they reached a wider audience and created a belief among the people of Tamil Nadu that Vijay is a socially responsible person.

Even though many people have different opinions on his script selections and have criticized the fact that most of Vijay’s films follow the same commercial entertainer formula, it was a huge advantage for him, as that genre was later labeled as Vijay’s genre.

In some circumstances, when those commercial entertainers themselves failed, Vijay used remakes of Telugu films as a lethal weapon to bounce back and smartly used them to maintain his success momentum. Even if it sounds crazy, it is a fact that he has acted in 12 Telugu remake films. Additionally, even his anticipated final film is a remake of the Telugu film Bhagavanth Kesari.

So, in this article, we’ll take a quick look at which Vijay films are Telugu remakes and what the results of those films were.

1) Ninaithen Vandhai (1998)

Vijay’s Ninaithen Vandhai, directed by K Selva Bharathy and released in 1998, was a remake of the Telugu film Pelli Sandadi. During that time, Vijay was in a prime phase of his career with back to back hits, so to continue the winning streak, Vijay decided to act in the remake of the blockbuster Pelli Sandadi and it gave him the expected results. Ninaithen Vandhai received positive responses from audiences and emerged as a hit film at the box office.

2) Priyamaanavale (2000)

Following a huge breakthrough in his career with Thullatha Manamum Thullum in 1999, Vijay acted in four films, including Minsara Kanna directed by KS Ravikumar, but surprisingly, all four films failed to give the expected results. Consequently, he joined hands with SJ Suryah for the experimental rom-com Kushi, which became an iconic film in his career. Then, Vijay decided to try another experimental film to bring out the best in him as an actor. So, he decided to act in the remake of the Telugu film Pavitra Bandham, which featured a grey-shaded lead character. This remake was titled Priyamaanavale and directed by K Selva Bharathy. Surprisingly, this move also worked, and the film performed well at the box office.

3) Badri (2001)

Badri was directed by PA Arun Prasad and was a remake of the Telugu film Thammudu. The major reason Vijay chose to act in Thammudu’s remake was that, at this phase of his career, he wanted to concentrate more on boy next door characters. Therefore, instead of trying a new script, Vijay took a shortcut to test this decision by remaking the blockbuster Thammudu and this film was also became a successful venture.

4) Youth (2002)

After the poor box office performance of his highly anticipated film Thamizhan, Vijay used the film Youth directed by Vincent Selva, to bounce back in his career. It was a remake of the Telugu film Chiru Navvutho, which was a huge blockbuster at the time. Youth also became a super hit at the box office and helped him make a comeback.

5) Vaseegara (2003)

For the third time, Vijay collaborated with director K Selva Bharathy to remake a Telugu film and it is for the film Vaseegara, which is a remake of Venkatesh’s blockbuster Nuvvu Naaku Nachav. But surprisingly, despite positive responses from critics, Vaseegara failed to satisfy audience expectations and performed averagely at the box office.

6) Ghilli (2004)

Following the failure of Udhaya, Vijay joined hands with director Dharani for Ghilli with the intention of making a solid comeback. A remake of Mahesh Babu’s blockbuster Okkadu, Ghilli was a massive success; some reports even suggest it was the first Tamil film to collect 50 crores at the box office. Beyond its commercial success, Ghilli is still considered a peak film in Vijay’s career and a masterclass in how to handle a remake.

7) Sachein (2005)

Vijay’s Sachein directed by John, is an adaptation of the Telugu film Neetho with some minor changes. Even though Neetho didn’t perform well in Telugu, Vijay trusted director John and agreed to act in the Tamil remake. While Sachein did not perform as well at the box office as expected, it still maintains a cult following and Vijay’s charming performance in this film won the hearts of the audience.

8) Aathi (2006)

The only film in this list that ended up as a disappointing Telugu remake for Vijay is Aathi, directed by Ramana. Aathi is a remake of the Telugu film Athanokkade. Although Athanokkade was a huge blockbuster in Telugu, its remake Aathi, ended up as a terrible disaster at the box office.

9) Pokkiri (2007)

Following the failure of Aathi, Vijay used another Telugu blockbuster for his comeback and it is Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri. Vijay’s Pokkiri was directed by Prabhu Deva and it’s his directorial debut in Kollywood. Not only the story and screenplay, but the makers of Vijay’s Pokkiri even retained the original title. Pokkiri ended up as a huge blockbuster and helped Vijay make a massive comeback.

10) Velayudham (2011)

Even though Vijay is a top star with a high success rate in Kollywood, he struggled between 2007 and 2010, as most of his films during this phase were either failures or average performers. After multiple risky attempts, Vijay used his lethal weapon of doing a Telugu remake again with Velayudham. Velayudham directed by M Raja is a remake of Nagarjuna’s Azad. Unfortunately, Velayudham ended up as an average performer at the box office and didn’t give the expected result for Vijay.

Jana Nayagan (2026)

The last film in this list is Vijay’s final film Jana Nayagan, directed by H Vinoth and it is based on the film Bhagavanth Kesari. Jana Nayagan was originally scheduled for release on January 9th but was postponed due to the delay in obtaining its censor certificate, and there is still no clarity on its updated release date. Even though some people are unhappy that Vijay’s final film is a remake rather than an original script and that too a remake of the mass masala film Bhagavanth Kesari, the sentiment has now changed completely following the election results. Vijay fans are now simply awaiting to witness his one last dance in the theatres and celebrate it as a festival, irrespective of the story and screenplay.

Vijay and his obsession with Telugu remakes resemble a beautiful love story, as it helped him to make comebacks during his low phases and it constantly travelled with him till his final film. However, it remains to be seen whether Jana Nayagan satisfies the expectations of the audiences and emerges as a blockbuster success, giving the top star of Kollywood a memorable farewell upon its release.