Anurag Basu, currently shooting for long in the making film, says unfair to blame lead pair Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif for hold-up
Letty Mariam Abraham (MID-DAY; August 31, 2016)

A veriety of reasons has been attributed to the inordinate delay in making Anurag Basu’s next, Jagga Jasoos, but the filmmaker claims that he is solely responsible for it.

“It was not delayed. Ranbir had locked dates for the film while we were shooting for Barfi (2012). He has to wrap up prior commitments before he can do my film. The media has been blaming the poor actors for the delay, but they have never said anything. The fact is that I did not shoot in 2015. I shot in 2014. In the whole of 2015, I must have shot for barely 10 days. The major part of my shoot happened this year. I wanted to take a break. After Barfi, it was the first time I made some money. It’s typical middle class mentality,” said Anurag.

So Ranbir and Katrina’s break-up hamper the shoot at all? “No, shooting happens. Actors come and shoot; I am bothered only about what happens in front of the camera. My focus is on whether the film is happening on schedule or not. Before and after that whatever happens doesn’t matter to me,” added the director.

There were also rumours of Anil Kapoor replacing Govinda. “All these stories about Govinda are mere speculation. There was no statement from us. The only problem is that Ranbir, Katrina and I are not on social media, so there is no way to clarify these rumours. We just keep quiet. And no, Anil Kapoor is not there in this film,” said Basu.

Beware of Basu

Anurag Basu is quite the prankster on the sets of kids’ dance reality show, Super Dancer. He often hides cellphones of co-judges, Shilpa Shetty and Geeta Kapoor. Once Shilpa had a panic attack when Basu hid her phone and feigned ignorance about it. Now, Shilpa makes sure that Anurag doesn’t come anywhere close to her phone. The actress worked with Basu in Life In A... Metro (2007)