Jason Statham Birthday Special: From ‘Snatch’ to ‘War’, 5 Movies of Action Star That Got Bollywood Remakes Starring Akshay Kumar, Sunny Deol, Hrithik Roshan and More!

Jason Statham has established himself as one of Hollywood's most reliable action stars; the success of this year's The Beekeeper is solid proof of that. Born on July 26, 1967, in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, Statham had initially pursued a career in diving, even representing England at the Commonwealth Games. His transition into movies was marked by his collaboration with director Guy Ritchie, who cast him in the 1998 film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. and later on Snatch in 2000, both turning out to be cult classics. The actor and director also had other collaborations in Revolver,  Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, albeit with lesser acclaim and earnings. The Beekeeper Movie Review: Too Many Bee Puns Spoil Jason Statham's 'John Wick' Party! 

It was his focus on doing more action roles that helped Jason Statham, or as the fans call him, 'The Stat', create a space for himself in British cinema as well as in Hollywood. His career skyrocketed as he became the face of several hit franchises like The Fast and the Furious, The Meg, Crank, Mechanic, Transporter, The Expendables et al. While he is overtly concentrating on taking names and kicking ass in the movies, Statham also takes occasional ventures into other genres, like when he returned to comedy with the 2015 film Spy and ended up stealing the show despite being in a supporting role.

Some of his popular films have also been remade in Bollywood. So on the occasion of Jason Statham's 57th birthday, we look at five movies of his that got remade in Bollywood.

1. 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'

Remade as: Phir Hera Pheri

Jason Statham's debut film as an actor got a loose remake in Neeraj Vora-directed Hera Pheri sequel, starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. The plotline where the down-on-luck protagonists find a bag of loot belonging to criminals is lifted from the Guy Ritchie film.

Even the last scene, in which Akshay's character dangles on a bridge and tries to push a stolen gun into the river without knowing its true value, is lifted from the British film.

2. 'Snatch'

Remade as: Fool & Final

Snatch remains Guy Ritchie's best film. It is an ensemble black comic thriller with a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Jason Statham, Benicio del Toro, Stephen Graham, and Vinnie Jones. The film received a less favourable Hindi remake in Ahmed Khan's Fool & Final, which was quite the box office bomb despite its colourful promos and songs.

At least, the film boasted an impressive cast in Sunny Deol, Shahid Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Sameera Reddy, Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore, Arbaaz Khan, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Chunkey Pandey, and Jackie Shroff. Vivek Oberoi had played Statham's role in the remake.

3. 'The Italian Job'

Remade as: Players

The fun trivia is that The Italian Job itself is inspired by a 1969 film of the same name, though it changes the plot considerably. The movie had Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron in the lead roles, while Edward Norton, Jason Statham, Seth Green, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland were part of the ensemble. Abbas-Mustan remade this film in Hindi as the 2012 film Players. The Expendables 4 Movie Review: Time to Bid Goodbye to the Franchise, Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham!

The movie starred Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sikandar Kher, and Omi Vaidya. Kheri played Statham's role in the remake.

4. 'Cellular'

Remade as: Speed

Jason Statham played the antagonist in this 2004 thriller, directed by David R Ellis, that also starred Chris Evans, Kim Basinger, William H Macy and Jessica Biel. The movie was about a kidnapped woman who manages to contact a total stranger through a broken telephone that allows her to call only him. It was remade in Hindi in 2007 by Vikram Bhatt.

Speed starred Zayed Khan, Sanjay Suri, Urmila Matondkar, Aftab Shivdasani, Aashish Chaudhary and Tanushree Dutta, with Aftab stepping into Statham's shoes here. The film was a critical and commercial failure. PS: Cellular also partly inspired Mohanlal's Malayalam comic-thriller Hallo, which coincidentally came the same year as Speed.

5. 'War'

Remade as: War

In 2007, another Jason Statham film was made that gave Bollywood one of its big blockbusters 12 years later in a namesake inspiration. The  Philip G Atwell film reunited Jason Statham with his The One co-star Jet Li in a twisty action-thriller about deceptive faces, quite literally at that. In 2019, Siddharth Anand made War, which may look nothing like the Hollywood film in how it is presented, but the basic idea and even its face-swapping twist are borrowed from there.

Despite the influences, War, starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff in the lead, went on to become 2019's biggest hit. It is also part of YRF Spy Universe and is getting a sequel due in 2025, where Jr NTR replaces Tiger Shroff, and Ayan Mukerji replaces Siddharth Anand with Hrithik returning as rogue RAW agent Kabir.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2024 09:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).