'Chashme Baddoor' has soul of original - Ali Zafar

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The remake of the cult 1980s film "Chashme Buddoor" has the soul of the original but has been tailored to today's Indian audiences, lead actor Ali Zafar said.

"Chashme Baddoor" (spelt differently) is directed by David Dhawan and stars Zafar along with Bollywood debutante Taapsee Pannu.

The original film, directed by Sai Paranjpe, tells the story of three friends who fall in love with the same girl and the confusion that ensues. Farooq Sheikh, Deepti Naval, Rakesh Bedi and the late Ravi Baswani charmed moviegoers in a memorable film that was laced with subtle humour.

Zafar, a Pakistani singer who has seen some success in Bollywood films, said "Chashme Baddoor" had the "soul" of the original and the relevance of each character had been retained.

But the 2013 version will pick up the pace.

"People want to be engaged all the time and patience levels are low," Zafar told Reuters. "It cannot lose its grip."

Recent Bollywood comedies that made money relied on brash humour and over-the-top comedy, but Zafar said not all films need to try that hard to make audiences laugh.

"The public will choose from what you give them," he said. "You can give them something like 'Vicky Donor' which was a great comedy."

"Chashme Baddoor" opens in cinemas in April.

Bollywood has seen several remakes in recent years. A remake of 1983 hit "Himmatwala" opens in March with Ajay Devgn reprising Jeetendra's role. Two of Amitabh Bachchan's films -- "Agneepath" and "Zanjeer" -- have also been remade.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar)