India, May 30 -- The trend of remaking one's own film in another language is not new. Priyadarshan made a career for himself in Hindi cinema by remaking his old Malayalam classics in Bollywood, and doing it quite successfully. Of late, Atlee has repackaged elements from his films in his Hindi debut, Jawan. But nobody did it quite as successfully as one man in the late 2010s. This maverick made the same film in three languages, with three different star casts, all in one year. And all of them were blockbusters. Yet, this was his final foray in Bollywood.

Siddique Ismail, known in the film world as simply Siddique, started his film career as an assistant to Fazil in Malayalam cinema. He later teamed up with Lal, and the Siddique-Lal duo ga...