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Zanjeer remake is on track!

By HT
The film propelled Amitabh Bachchan into his 'angry young man' avatar and has been in the news recently for its much-touted remake. The Zanjeer (1973) remake, which has south actor Ram Charan Teja reprising Bachchan's part and Sanjay Dutt stepping in the shoes of
Pran's iconic Sher Khan, hit a stumbling block when the original's scriptwriter Salim Khan hit the makers with a copyright infringement charge, asking for damages to the tune of R6 crore. However, the undeterred makers are continuing shooting their version, waiting for the matter to be sorted.
An insider from the production team reveals that they recently shot a song, 'Pinky', with Priyanka Chopra, who is playing the female lead.
"We shot Priyanka's introductory song at Madh Island. She is dancing with 100 male back-up dancers," says the source. The track was composed by the Meet Brothers and choreographed by Ganesh Acharya. The song was shot over four days. "The shooting was never halted. The next schedule of the film will start this month," adds the source.
When asked if he was aware of the schedule, Salim Khan, who along with writer Javed Akhtar wrote the original said he had no problem with the remake.
His only concern was his dues.
"What about the writers (Salim-Javed) who wrote some of the best films 30 or 40 years ago but earned meagre amounts? Now when you are remaking our film, you are doing very lucrative business of around R100 crores. The original writer should get something at least," says Salim.
The veteran writer will meet the makers at the Film Writers Association offices next week. "The matter has been given to the association and they will call both parties. It's premature to say anything now," says Khan, insisting that "permission should be taken from the original writers" before proceeding with remakes.
Earlier Khan had given his go-ahead to Farhan Akhtar to remake Don (2006) and to Ram Gopal Varma for Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007). "I am not against remaking my films. When Don was being remade, the producers met me and I didn't even hesitate a minute before approving," he says.

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