'Tevar' an adaptation, not a remake: Director

Mumbai, Dec 16 (IANS) Amit Sharma doesn't like to call his directorial debut "Tevar" a remake. He says that it should be seen as an adaptation of the original film "Okaddu" because it took him months to complete the script.

"For me, the biggest challenge was to cast Manoj Bajpayee, I wanted only him for my film. So I pursued him to do the role. I took a script with eight scenes and asked him to say yes," said Sharma.

"It took me seven months to write the script -- that's why I don't call 'Tevar' a remake, it's just an adaptation of the original," he added.

Produced by Boney Kapoor, "Tevar" featuring Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha is slated for a Jan 9 release.

Sharma had also asked Sonakshi to lose weight for the film and says the actress accepted the challenge.

"The role required her to lose weight and she accepted the challenge and lost a lot of weight, which is very much appreciated.

"Sonakshi is one of the most brilliant actors that we have in the industry. The best part about her is that she can just change into anything within minutes... that's magical. She is very hardworking and there are no tantrums at all," said Sharma.