96 Was Originally Planned As A Bollywood Film With A Different Lead Before Becoming A Tamil Classic!

C. Prem Kumar directed the critically acclaimed film 96, which starred Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha Krishnan. For many of us, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Vijay Sethupathi portraying the role of Ram.

However, the character wasn’t originally written with him in mind. In fact, 96 wasn’t even conceived as a Tamil film initially; it was first envisioned as a Bollywood project, with Abhishek Bachchan in place of Vijay Sethupathi.

This revelation came directly from the director himself at the 7th edition of the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC), organized by the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA). But why didn’t 96 take shape as a Hindi film? According to C. Prem Kumar, it all came down to not having the right connections. He admitted, ‘I wanted to pitch it to Abhishek Bachchan, but I didn’t have the contacts.’

He also shared that he has a strong command of Hindi, as his father was raised in North India. This led to Prem being exposed to Bollywood in his childhood, and he revealed that his favorite actor back then was Naseeruddin Shah. Now, his dream has come true, he has completed writing a script for a Hindi film. He also explained the reason behind his interest in Bollywood, stating, ‘The main reason for my interest in Hindi cinema is the diversity of the audience, not the scale.’

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