Sidharth Malhotra feels the heat of matching upto Rajesh Khanna’s performance in the remake of Ittefaq!

The original film was directed by Yash Chopra starring Rajesh Khanna and Nanda in lead roles

Actor Sidharth Malhotra, who is set to star in the remake of “Ittefaq”, says he has to “match up” to the acting abilities of the late superstar Rajesh Khanna, who starred in the 1969 film.

“I am extremely excited for ‘Ittefaq’. It is a remake of the super-hit 1969 film ‘Ittefaq.’ The benchmark for me has already been set as superstar Rajesh Khanna was a part of the film back then, and I have to match up to his acting abilities in this remake,” Sidharth told IANS over e-mail from Miami. The handsome hunk, who made his forary into Bollywood with the 2012 film “Student of the Year”, says the film’s script is brilliant and it would be a new screen character for him. The film is being produced by Red Chillies, Dharma and BR films.

Directed by Yash Chopra, “Ittefaq” also featured late actress Nanda. It revolves around a man named Dilip, who loves his passion more than his wife, and one day in a fit of rage — when his wife tries to harm his paintings — he strangles her to death.

The film was a unique one of many counts. It was a songless film though it had Salil Chowdhary as the music composer. In that sense, it was similar to the 1960 film, Kanoon that also had no songs. It was from the same production house with same leading lady, Nanda. The film did not earn a lot of moolah when it got released but is hailed as one of the best films of the late Yash Chopra.