For almost 10 years, Korean producer Hyunwoo Thomas Kim of Cross Pictures has quietly set up his base in Mumbai and has been making some interesting, offbeat Indian films like Te3n (2016), Jaane Jaane (2023), Blind (2023), Sakini Dakini (2022) etc. An article by Mayank Shekhar in Mid-Day documents his journey in India and more.
BREAKING: Korean producer Hyunwoo Thomas Kim approaches Akshay Kumar for an exciting project: “Sujoy Ghosh has already worked on the draft of it”
Hyunwoo Thomas Kim explains how he decided to set up an office in India. He revealed that in 2014, he regularly received emails from a company named ‘Balaji’ and he initially assumed it was spam! One day, when he opened the mail, he came to know that the leading production house, Balaji Motion Pictures, was mailing and asking for its rights. Suspect X’s Devotion For Hindi remake.
Hyunwoo Thomas Kim wanted to know who would direct the remake. He was told that Sujoy Ghosh had been signed. hyunwoo looked at sujoy Story (2012) and was so impressed that he flew to Mumbai to meet Sujoy and others. After the meeting he also gave him remake rights.
Hyunwoo Thomas Kim said in a mid-day interview that he was surprised by Mumbai, as everyone spoke English and hence, it was easy to do business. He started visiting India more often. He commented, “I thought, India is a big market, there are great directors, actors… there is a shortage of caliber writers in Korea. There was a void that needed to be filled. Initially, people thought I was crazy to spend so much time/money (in Mumbai). Or that I had a girlfriend in India. I don’t think so!”
However, Suspect X’s Devotion eventually recreated as Jaane Jaane Only in 2023. When asked why it was not made in 2014, he replied that Drishyam (2013) had already been released and was inspired by the same story. Hyunwoo Thomas Kim confessed that he wanted to sue the producers Drishyam, But this did not happen because “Ekta Kapoor backed out”.
However, Hyunwoo Thomas Kim wins the case against Kannada Hit Pushpak Vimana (2017), a remake starring Lee Hwan-kyung Miracle in Cell No.7 (2013), whose rights they own. The Bombay High Court passed an order restraining the filmmakers of Kannada films from giving away any rights regarding satellite or telecast rights.
Talking about his upcoming films, Hyunwoo Thomas Kim revealed that he has approached Akshay Kumar for the remake of a Korean film. He said, “Just yesterday, I messaged Akshay Kumar, who is in London, and asked him to watch a particular film that everyone in the industry knows about. Sujoy (Ghosh) has already worked on the draft. If Akshay agrees, we have a project.”
In the same interview, he also said that the Hindi film industry has welcomed him warmly, “I have met everyone, including Shah Rukh Khan, who was the first to send me a message about a script.”
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