Warner Bros India Preps ‘Infernal Affairs’ Remake With Azure Entertainment

Warner Bros India is partnering with Mumbai-based Azure Entertainment on a local remake of Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs. The companies will jointly invest in and produce the project which was the source material for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning 2006 crime drama The Departed.

The remake is the first piece of a two-picture deal between Azure and Warner to jointly develop, produce and distribute key titles from the WB library for the Indian market — whose box office is largely dominated by local titles.

Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, the original Infernal Affairs starred Andy Lau and Tony Leung and was the first in a trilogy of films. Leung played a police officer who goes undercover, infiltrating the triads. Conversely, Lau was a triad member who acts as a mole inside the Hong Kong PD. The twisty films gained a global cult following. Scorsese’s take — which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Vera Farmiga — earned a Best Picture Oscar as well as honors for Directing, Adapted Screenplay and Editing.

Azure and WB India are close to formalizing a director for the Hindi remake. WB has a great track-record with local-language productions in several markets and Azure is a specialist in remakes. It’s currently in development on re-dos of Spanish originals The Body and The Invisible Guest as well as French pic Heartbreaker under a three-film deal with Gaumont.