Mumbai, Sep 8 (IANS): Actor R. Madhavan suggested that his popular TV show "Ghar Jamai" be turned into a full-fledged film, says Anant Mahadevan who will helm the big screen version of the comedy series.

"Madhavan suddenly had the idea that why not make 'Ghar Jamai' as a film. Today, the best way to go on a pan-India audience is by getting South and North India audience together. Casting North Indian as a North Indian and a South Indian as a South Indian would really hit the audience of both the region effectively," Anant Mahadevan told IANS.

The television series was first showed on Doordarshan where Mahadevan played South Indian son-in-law and Satish Shah his North Indian father-in-law. Later in 1997, it was aired on Zee TV and this time Mahadevan directed the series, while Madhavan played the North Indian-son-in Law and Satish Shah repeated his role.

"The series became very, very popular in both the seasons. It was more of a comedy of manners and wits than a farcical comedy. We always thought that it has the scope of a regular feature film but we did not attempt to do it," said Mahadevan, whose last directorial venture was film "Red Alert: The War Within".

In the film, Madhavan will reprise the title role.

"Madhavan will play the protagonist. But we have to decide on the rest of the cast. That would not be the same as the television series at all," said Mahadevan.

However, it would strictly have a fresh plot at the unique backdrop with new set of star cast unlike the other television series like "Khichdi" and "Office Office", which were turned into the film recently, said Mahadevan.

"To do a comedy of a South Indian boy in a North Indian household is like a cat and mouse or Tom and Jerry type of game that takes place between the father-in-law and the son-in-law. I would be very careful not to fall into the pitch that other television serials have done.

"I don't want to name them but there have been two or three films that have been made on popular television serials and they fell flat on their face because they made it like television show repeating the same cast, same situations. Why would one spend Rs.300 to watch what they can get on television," said Mahadevan.

He says he will adopt American way of adapting comic books into film or adapting series like "The Odd Couple" or "Sex and the City".

"I will make sure that this film is a film and not a television series on the big screen," said Mahadevan adding that the project will go on floor next year.

"This is a project for not immediate filming. We would start filming probably by spring 2012. Just now we are in the preliminaries and discussing how to put together the project. We would shoot it in Toronto and India," he said.