Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 12, 2021)

Earlier this year, Salman Khan tested the waters of pay-per-view entertainment with Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai. Now, Jackie Shroff’s upcoming drama, The Interview: Night of 26/11, is taking a similar route. In the Hindi remake of the Dutch film, Interview (2003), Shroff plays an ace war correspondent who changes tracks from serious journalism to sensationalism when he gets an opportunity to interview a leading Bollywood heroine.

The actor, who has watched the 2003 original, says he jumped at the opportunity to feature in its adaptation. “I enjoyed working with international director Laurens Postma. My character is stuck in an interview with a Bollywood actress on the night of 26/11, but as the hours pass, the interview goes off the rails. Prawaal Raman’s dialogues brought a lot of depth to the characters,” he says.

The fate of the Shroff-starrer remains to be seen as it premieres on BookMyShow Stream in a pay-per-view model. Films in India so far haven’t had a successful tryst with the model — while Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday-led Khaali Peeli tanked last year, Radhe enjoyed initial success but soon fell prey to piracy.