Victoria No. 203 was one of the superhit movies of 1972. Directed by ace filmmaker Brijmohan Sadanah, the action-comedy film starred the A-listers of Bollywood like Ashok Kumar, Pran and Saira Banu, to name a few. The movie was about diamond smuggling and heists and was very much loved by the audience. But did you know that this Hindi movie was remade into two other languages?
Just like every other hit movie like Seeta Aur Geeta, which was remade as Vani Rani in Tamil and Ganga Manga in Telugu, Victoria No. 203 too saw remakes in these two languages. The Telugu version, Andaru Dongale, was directed by VB Rajendra Prasad. It was headlined by Sobhan Babu, a close friend of the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa. It also starred Yaragudipadi Venkata Mahalakshmi, aka, Lakshmi and SV Ranga Rao in key roles.
However, it was the Tamil remake Vairam (1974) that became the buzz of the town. Recently, the movie clocked in 49 years anniversary. It starred Jayalalithaa and her friend Jaishankar. RS Manohar portrayed the role of the villain in the movie.
RS Manohar’s character Senthilnathan is a rich businessman and is revered by everyone. However, he is a smuggler and sends a man to steal diamonds worth several lakhs. However, the person became greedy and ran away with the precious gemstones. The gang leader sends his henchmen to kill the traitor. But the diamond goes missing. An innocent driver ends up behind the bar while his daughter, Rani, played by Jayalalithaa tries to save him.
The audience appreciated TM Ramanna’s Vairam as it created a thrilling atmosphere because the diamonds are found till the last moment. The actors too received much adulation from viewers. Jayalalithaa’s performance as her character had to disguise herself as a man to Jaishankar portraying the role of a lover, a distraught son who feels betrayed that his father is a gang leader in smuggling diamonds and that he is actually adopted.
Victoria No. 203 was also remade in Kannada as Giddu Dada, in Malayalam as Samrambham and in Bengali as Chore Chore Mastuto Bhai. It was again remade in Hindi with the same name in 2007.
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