Bejoy Nambiar on Adarsh Gourav and Shanaya Kapoor’s 'Tu Yaa Main': ‘It’s an Official Adaptation, Not a Copy’

Ahead of its release, the upcoming thriller and “creature feature” Tu Yaa Main—starring Adarsh Gourav and Shanaya Kapoor—continues to build momentum, particularly for its distinct premise. But the film has also attracted speculation about its origins—specifically, questions around whether the plot draws from the 2018 Thai thriller The Pool, and if so, how directly.

Tu Yaa Main follows two influencers—Maruti, played by Gourav, and Avani Shah (Miss Vanity), played by Kapoor—who find themselves trapped in a deadly fight for survival when a crocodile shows up in a pool. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, director Bejoy Nambiar addresses these concerns head-on, dismissing lazy claims that the film is a "copy".

“It’s an official adaptation of the Thai film, The Pool, which came out in 2018,” Nambiar says, in response to the chatter. Despite rumours suggesting otherwise, the director reiterates that the adaptation has been formally acknowledged. “We have mentioned it everywhere, but I don’t know how people don’t read the credit slate,” he adds.

Tu Yaa Main credits Himanshu Sharma for the story, with screenplay and dialogues by Abhishek Arun Bandekar. The makers have also credited the original helmer, Ping Lumpraploeng, for the film's official adaptation.

Tu Yaa Main is far from a scene-by-scene remake, Nambiar stresses, and adds that the writing team has “completely reimagined it,” calling the Hindi version “poles apart” from its source material.

"I don't know why people don't read the credit slate. They just bashed us by claiming we were copying stuff, but we didn't!" the filmmaker says. In fact, in a move that feels almost radical in an age of frame-by-frame remakes, Nambiar chose to keep his distance from the original film altogether.

“I made it a point not to watch the original,” he says. The same rule applied to his cast. Adarsh Gourav and Shanaya Kapoor both stepped into physically and emotionally demanding roles without having watched the film as well. Nambiar says the team was more inclined to “come up with something new, since they don’t know the source material.”

"The basic idea of two people stuck in a pool and a crocodile is, of course, from the Thai film. But everything else that happens with the two characters when they are trying to survive is our original. Which is why I am sure our version will stand on its own," the filmmaker adds.

The film is set for a theatrical release on February 13.