By: Sima Malhotra

He won critical acclaim as a Kollywood director but is currently being slammed in his latest efforts in Bollywood.

So when Bollywood came knocking on his door asking him to remake his Kollywood masterpiece in Hindi, Priyadarshan not-so-politely declined.

While the award-winning South Indian director has made a name for himself remaking his own Malayalam language films in Hindi, Priyadarshan reportedly said he is keeping his hands off of a potential remake of the Tamil modern classic, Kanchivaram.

In an interview with Press Trust of India, Priyadarshan said Kanchivaram is better off left alone.

“I have remade quite a few of my films in Hindi, but I am not willing to do so for Kanchivaram,” he told PTI. “Such films can’t be remade and should be best left untouched.”

Starring Prakash Raj and Shriya Reddy, the film earned critical acclaim earlier this year, outshining mainstream Bollywood counterparts at the prestigious National Film Awards show.

A film about a silk-weaver in the town of Kanchivaram who swore to wed a bride wearing a silk saree yet was unable to do so due to his inability to afford such an outfit, the award-winning movie grossed nearly $2 million at the box office – considered to be a high figure for a Tamil flick. It also screened at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2008 Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival in Pittsburgh.

The Indian Film Commission recognized the film when they bestowed a National Film Award for Best Film to Priyadarshan.

“When I was making Kanchivaram, I wanted to make a film that would showcase India’s heritage — its culture and history,” he said about the place of his film in Indian cinema during an interview with reporters earlier this year. “India is a cultural superpower — a nuclear superpower. It is not a slum like some people would like to believe.”

Raj, the film’s leading man, was named Best Actor at the 55th National Film Awards, beating out Bollywood superstars Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan for the honor.

Priyadarshan’s latest Bollywood venture, De Dana Dan, released earlier this month yet did not receive positive reviews and is not doing too well at the box office.