Showing posts with label AK vs AK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AK vs AK. Show all posts
Some leading men hesitate to do parallel leads. How will a Sholay come into your life-Anil Kapoor
8:01 AM
Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; December 26, 2024)
Anil Kapoor’s journey has been nothing short of jhakkas. His filmography is testament to his ability to break new ground. His work in AK vs AK, The Night Manager (India’s nominee at the International Emmys this year), Thar, Animal, Fighter, and his drive to push female narratives as a producer through films like Crew is noteworthy. And he’s in no mood to slow down. The coming year will see him in Suresh Triveni’s Subedaar, and buzz is that he will also feature in War 2 and Alpha. On a quiet afternoon at his Juhu residence, in a conversation with us, AK reflects upon his 45 years in the movie business and the art of staying relevant as he turned a year older this week. Excerpts:
After completing 45 years in the movie business, one could easily get complacent and jaded, but you have the hunger of a teenager. What has led to this longevity?
Consistency is the key. Also, I have never taken anything for granted. Be it stardom, opportunities, success or relationships. I feel when people get what they want, they don’t preserve it. My first film was released in 1979. I feel deeply fortunate and grateful that I got these opportunities. Don’t allow people to walk over you or upstage you, but be open to learning new things. I never rest on my laurels. You need to work on yourself constantly. Self-awareness and accountability are important. Nothing comes easy in life. It’s also important to surround yourself with people who wish well for you, but aren’t yes men. Constructive criticism is equally important because it is you who must eventually face the consequences of your actions.
You once told us that no matter who is in the frame — it could be your son — you will always be an actor first on set. You have sportingly taken jokes on your chin that label your self-love as narcissism.
You need to look out for yourself, but I am not that crazy or delusional. There are times when I am emotional. I play along because people judge you based on your persona, and so be it. When I say I look great, that’s part of positive self-talk. It’s nothing to do with being self-centred. This funny, quirky side of mine keeps me going. I don’t want to get bored. You can’t overthink everything.
You’ve done films ahead of their time. Lamhe was one of our first age-gap love stories. Then there were movies like Mr India, Judaai and Taal. You also did the TV series 24 at a time when not many mainstream actors were doing television or did significant but brief parts in Hollywood movies. What pushed you to take such brave decisions?
I would not call these choices brave or experimental. I was just being smart and sensible. I don’t follow trends, I follow my instincts. I don’t believe in playing safe. Success is not always about commerce. When I did Lamhe, I knew that film would stand the test of time. Most actors had refused to do Judaai because they thought hero ka part weak hai since his wife sells him off. Also, the leading ladies (Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar) had stronger roles. I chose to do it because I believed the man loves his wife so much that he is even willing to be sold if that makes her happy. I remember watching Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan’s When A Man Loves A Woman, which further encouraged me to do Judaai. I didn’t have any punchlines (in Judaai); how I then made my presence felt was the challenge. Speaking of risks, I always thought the filmmakers have taken the risk by casting me, so I need to give it my best shot.
Many thought that mocking yourself with AK vs AK was a gutsy move. Do you think so, too?
Everyone was shocked that I did that film. Sandeep Reddy Vanga was taken aback by my decision because perhaps he thought the film could kill my stardom, but there were those who loved it. Danny Boyle sent me a long message appreciating the movie. Yes, money is important, but it is not everything. Don’t run behind it. If you do good work, money will follow. Some leading men these days hesitate to do parallel leads. If you think like that, how will a film like Sholay come into your life? You will end up missing out on good parts. How does it matter if someone gets four-five more dialogues? What matters is how good the filmmaker and script are. Would Oppenheimer happen if everyone wanted to play Cillian Murphy’s role? That film had Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon. Mera 45 saal ka career hai... I did Slumdog Millionaire because I got an opportunity to do something I hadn’t done before. It was a grey character, plus I got to work with Danny.
You just turned a year older this week, for someone as superfit and raring to go, is age just a number?
Yes, it is. It’s a good kind of pressure when people find you youthful and energetic. The best birthday gift I received was a video of my grandson Vayu (Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja’s son) singing and dancing on a couch, wishing me a happy birthday. Just watching him makes me happy (shows us the video). Finding purpose makes me happy. Making people around me happy makes me happy. I put in my best, but while doing that I protect myself. I won’t be blinded or destroy myself trying to make another person happy. Self-love and self-care are important. One shouldn’t indulge in negativity or let people and their energies consume you.
I’ve never said this publicly, but I think Bhavesh Joshi Superhero should have been a woman-Vikramaditya Motwane
8:17 AM
Vikramaditya Motwane joins Hitlist editor Mayank Shekhar for the latest edition of Sit with Hitlist. Pics/Ashish Raje
Motwane, on the movies — from Udaan (2010) to Jubilee (2023), both near-masterpieces!
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; April 27, 2023)
At age 25, Vikramaditya Motwane was set to direct Amitabh Bachchan for his debut film, Bombay Talkies. It’s about a great filmmaker making his return to the sets after years. And what all had changed about Hindi cinema, including stardom, in the interim. Bachchan was going to play this aged director — think of him as Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who was alive then, he says.
The star in the movie, I’m guessing, would have been an arrogant, prick type. Motwane found it impossible to cast a lead actor for this part. Which is why the film never got made. Until then, Motwane had extensively assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Which, firstly, explains the access to Bachchan.
We only wondered about it because of the title, Bombay Talkies. Which is what his latest series, on Amazon Prime Video, Jubilee, is modelled on. Namely, Himanshu Rai’s (Prosenjit Chatterjee) state-of-the-art film studio in the 1940s, along with Devika Rani (Aditi Rao Hydari), down in Malad, in Bombay.
And which once had in its payroll stars like Ashok Kumar (Aparshakti Khurana), Raj Kapoor (Sidhant Gupta), Dilip Kumar, Madhubala… All these characters have been heavily fictionalized, of course. And Jubilee itself has no relation to that Bachchan script.
It’s actually a mammoth exercise in world-building, without the filmmaker getting overawed by it — sticking to drama and storytelling still. While so classical in its production design and shot-taking, it isn’t placed wholly inside a filmy bubble either. So many such films/series consciously tend to be — including the best ones, like The Offer (on the making of The Godfather), or Mank (on Citizen Kane).
It isn’t full of the usual exaggerations that naturally come with surveying showbiz either — take the best film on contemporary Bollywood, Luck By Chance, for instance.
Jubilee captures the real world around it, equally. Whether that be the bloody Partition, or the Cold War. Once you buy into this world — and it takes a while, perhaps fourth episode onwards — we know no other Indian series that progressively gets better with every minute. It may even age better with time!
Also, it’s to do with the dialogue. Compare it to Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy, from the same time-setting. It sounds so coy, because they’re too obsessed with the period. Motwane says, “We wanted the language to be accessible. The language may not be completely correct to the period. But it’s not incorrect.”
“No one can point out and say, people needn’t speak like that. In fact, somebody’s criticism, which was actually funny was, ‘Gaaliyaan uss waqt kab hoti thi (When did people use expletives so much?)’ Gaaliyaan picture mein nahi hoti thi (Actors didn’t abuse on screen). That doesn’t mean people in real life weren’t abusing. Of course, they were.” For all its grandiose scale and sharp, layered storytelling, you come off Jubilee, exhaling, “Madan Kumar, behn****!” Isn’t it?
Motwane recalls the idea really took off in 2016: “What if we did our own definitive story of the Indian film industry, from the ’40s and ’50s onwards — the behind-the-scenes, the producers, directors, actors, press, all that sort of stuff coming together. This could be a season, or multiple seasons. Atul [Sabharwal] wrote a cracking pilot, Amazon loved it, and suddenly we were off in the races.”
It took seven years to see the light, because Motwane got busy with Sacred Games for Netflix, shortly thereafter.
If Jubilee does go through multiple seasons, leading up to Bombay cinema, late ’90s onwards as well, there will be few filmmakers more qualified to relive the times than Motwane.
On one end is Bhansali, who he was the chief handyman for, on Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), and Devdas (2002), that he represented at Cannes, along with the director. At the other end is filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who he’s partnered with since the unreleased Paanch. There aren’t more separate filmy worlds that you could belong to simultaneously in Bombay!
Bhansali and Motwane’s mother once ran an advertising production house together. He first met Kashyap on the sets of Deepa Mehta’s Water, where his job as the “wrangler” was to ensure the procrastinator Kashyap, as all writers are, delivers dialogues on time — not an easy task!
“Anurag’s wife, [editor] Aarti [Bajaj], his ex-wife now, was with me at XIC [Xavier Institute of Communications], when we were doing a film production course in 1994-95. Anurag had done the same course a year before that. He says I met him then. I have no recollection of this.”
Also, few directors own a CV as varied as Motwane’s — so far as filmmaking departments go. What all has he been credited for? Let’s start: Sound design? “Yes, for Devdas, and Paanch.”
Choreography? “Directed songs for Paanch. For Water as well. Well, choreography is a broad term. Because there was no dancing in Water. Deepa wanted me to help her with songs, because she felt I had a better music sense.” Acquired from Bhansali, one’s guessing.
Okay, cinematography? “Short films: Shaanu Taxi, Midnight Lost And Found.” How about acting? “Acting in cameos in certain places, which I am not very proud of.” Like, Kashyap’s No Smoking (2007)? “Yeah, everybody sees me in No Smoking!” What’s left, production design? “No, I don’t like that part.”
Yet, in terms of capturing the fuller gamut of Bollywood, his most uncanny credit might well be as the writer of a film by director Vivek Agnihotri, titled Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (2007).
No, seriously, how did that happen? “So, UTV was producing this film. Vivek had approached them. He said he had this story idea about football. He wanted a really good writer. They called up Anurag, who said he doesn’t know anything about football. But he knows this guy, who knows everything about football. So, they approached me. I have loved this game since I was eight years old. I said, let me write you an original script instead.” What, they gave him a DVD to rip? “Something like that!” Something like that, as in?
“So, well, I wrote the script. But the film that got made was not exactly the way that Anurag and me, to put it mildly, kind of wanted. I liked the time though. Beggars can’t be choosers. We got paid for the work, and that was more important than anything else. I still believe the original script of mine is one of the best things I have written.”
Motwane’s first script to be made into a film, after Bombay Talkies got aborted, of course, was the near-masterpiece, coming-of-age, Udaan (2010), that went straight to Cannes in the prestigious Un Certain Regard section, where he was competing against, among others, Jean Luc Goddard: “That was really trippy!”
It’s set in Jamshedpur (now in Jharkhand), about a boy who finishes school with ambitions in arts and poetry, but is forced into the mundane, by a disciplinarian father, who brooks no dissent.
It’s almost the opposite of Motwane’s own life, since he was actually driven into the media world, because his mother needed help with a TV show she was producing for teenagers. He was a teenager then, chilling all day in the Mithibai College canteen.
What did he even know of a strict boarding-school or small-town life, let alone the Tata Steel township, Jamshedpur, to get it so right with Udaan, we wonder. Motwane says Udaan was originally set in Nashik, in his head, because that’s a similarly industrial, small-town he knew, since his father owns an audio-equipment factory there.
“They live in nice little bungalows. The town is very organized. So, I wrote it as a generic place, in fact. Because I knew that world. I could not write in Nashik. It’d be too close to home. And I didn’t want it to be that. So, I wrote it like a Ghaziabad or Faridabad kinda set-up — outskirts of Delhi, where the family lives. The boy sneaks out, comes into Delhi-proper, to party and stuff.”
And then he handed the script to director Imtiaz Ali: “Imtiaz read the script and he’s like, ‘You know what, just take a train, go stay with my family in Jamshedpur. Have a look. I am reading this, and I can see those streets.’ I was going to cast Imtiaz’s younger brother, Sajid, in the lead, at that time. This was 2005.”
“Sajid and I hopped on to a train, went to Jamshedpur, spent four to five days with his family, saw the place — this was perfect! I moved the film to Jamshedpur. The film finally got made in 2009, which is also great, because by then, the viewership had changed; audiences had changed. In 2005, multiplexes were still not what they were by 2010, when we did the film with UTV, with a 225-screen release, which is a big deal for a small film.”
Kashyap produced Udaan, post the commercial success of Dev D (2009). This also means the original lead actor, Imtiaz’s brother Sajid, would have passed his teenage by then. Young Rajat Barmecha was brought in for the Holden Caulfied type protagonist. The homework Motwane gave him was “the literature I’d read growing up, movies I’d watched — 400 Blows, Richard Price’s books, and a lot of things that come into Catcher in the Rye…”
The directorial career that Motwane scripted for himself after Udaan is indisputably marked by a range that’s hard to match — going from a period piece (Lootera) to super-hero (Bhavesh Joshi Superhero), a one-man survivor drama, set in a building, suggesting the dystopia of cities (Trapped), to the ultimate Mumbai-mafia sweeping-epic (Sacred Games), that he was the showrunner for — first Indian to hold that title (in case Limca Book of Records is interested in listing!).
The leaps are so wide that it piques your interest to know what inspired each film, since none suggest self-expression alone. Firstly, where the heck did AK vs AK (2020) come from — a meta movie that firstly defies genre, about a director and actor playing themselves. The director turns rogue, kidnaps the actor’s daughter, to film in real-time, what happens next! Wut?
“It’s just such a great one-line idea. Which is what excites you most. As a young filmmaker, you fight the fact that the idea of your film should be encapsulated into one, single line. As you grow older, you realise that one, single line is what drives you forward. Writer Avinash Sampath, who’s now become a good friend of mine, sent the script to us. He’d written it for Aamir [Khan] first. I was sure Aamir is never gonna do it, so let’s not even try!
“There is Akshay Kumar, who we did approach, and it was a very interesting meeting — I mean, he didn’t sort of outrightly say, ‘Get out of my office,’ but it was close enough! For a while, I was making it with Shahid [Kapoor], which kind of happened, and then it didn’t. The [actor] AKs kept changing. The [director] AK, that is Anurag Kashyap, was a constant. He’s a fantastic actor.”
Well, Kashyap says he sucks at acting! “I think he is fab. In fact, everybody on the AK set was talking about Anil Kapoor. I think Anurag, especially in the last scene, is incredible. You actually tear up, when shit happens to him.”
Okay, how about Lootera? It’s practically a Bengali film! “Practically. And that [part is all Satyajit] Ray. I wanted to do a thriller, with a love story in it, as opposed to a tragic love story. Our first trailer got it right. And then there became a problem with the pitching to the audience. People were expecting to watch this epic love story. And they probably went, ‘Hang on a second, this is not that!’”
Maybe because he plays with such diverse subjects —you sense that probably puts Motwane in a more objective position to judge his own work in hindsight — most think of their films as so much like their heart’s outpouring, that it’s hard to discuss it with them, without fawning over with delight. Consider Motwane’s take on Bhavesh Joshi Superhero (2018).
While he loves the film the way it is, immensely, he says, “I’ve never said this publicly, but I think Bhavesh should have been a woman. As in, Siku’s character should have been female. [Firstly] the world thinks there’s a guy, who turns out to be a girl. When she unmasks, you go, ‘What the f***’.
“Also, then the film is not about a friend, saving a friend, in terms of the Ashish Verma character. He is actually deeply in love [with the female superhero], but has never been able to tell [her that]. The conflict is way deeper. The layers get more interesting too.”
As for reasons for smoothly jumping styles and genres, where each Motwane movie is unrecognizable from the other — unlike a subtle or strong voice/style that laces through most auteurs; think Bhansali, Kashyap — the impetus is quite simple.
“It’s the excitement of trying something new. So, Jubilee is exciting, because it is something I have never done before — a classical style of storytelling, 10 playback songs, and all that stuff — the fact of telling a specific story, in the form that is most suited to it. I feel that the film is always the boss. I am not.”
Motwane says his forthcoming film is titled Control. It’s a ‘computer-generated’ movie, flitting between screens, centred on an Instagram influencer: “Again, it is a cyber thriller, it is new. I get excited by it. And you learn. Every film is an audition for the next one, having learnt from the last one!” That said, surely, if one looks deep enough, they’ll be able to spot a personal thread.
Take Jubilee, for that matter. Consider a character called Jotwani, a film businessman, who shows up in it. It’s unclear exactly what he does in the movies. Maybe there is some association with working with sound or audio equipment. That’s precisely what his paternal family dealt with.
If you go through any archival footage of public rallies of politicians from the ’50s, or pre-independence vintage, the most common brand-name you’ll notice is Chicago Radio, that’s attached to the microphone.
That company was started by Motwane’s great grandfather. His grandfather thereafter also once produced a film: “It was called Andolan, in 1949, with young Kishore Kumar in the lead. It was a film about the freedom struggle. It didn’t do well, which is why nobody in the family talks about it. Because I think the family lost a lot of money on it.”
You also see the Sindhi refugee camp in Jubilee. Given his own Sindhi lineage, we wonder if there is a personal history to it as well? “So, my family didn’t have to make their way during Partition. We were already here from the 1930s. The business was already set up. But for a while, my family house in Khar was a refugee camp. I have seen photographs. People were also demarcated into tents in garden-area or permanent structures, depending on the social status of the refugees.”
Motwane says he learnt of his family’s film lineage, only much after he became a filmmaker: “Nobody tells me anything! Now, I’m the family archivist.” He’s named his production company, Andolan, after his grandfather’s maiden and only production.
AK vs AK and Jubilee are Andolan productions. Of course, the more famous production company he’s been associated with is Phantom Films, which shut down, following allegations of negligence, dealing with a sexual harassment case against one of the partners, Vikas Bahl, in 2017. Prior to that, it was a company rolling out quality films after another.
We recall an interview about Phantom, where Motwane compared it to Pixar, in terms of credibility and ambition: “Very ambitious! Peak-Phantom was something else. Eventually, we would have all perhaps gone our own ways, anyway. Maybe running our own companies under the umbrella of Phantom as the larger studio. It was an unfortunate end to what was a good journey.”
“Interestingly enough, I actually met Tanmay Bhat and Rohan [Joshi] and we were talking about how peak-AIB and peak-Phantom happened at the same time. Some great stuff went down.” The comedy collective, All India Bakchod, similar to Phantom, folded up, following a #MeToo storm.
Is there anything that Motwane thinks they could have done differently over the workplace sexual harassment issue? “Externally, we could have [handled it better]. But again, this is in hindsight. If you’re going through something you haven’t before, you may not know how to handle it. From a professional, empathetic and personal point of view — I am saying all three — we could have done better.”
While this is obviously the first time Motwane has been on Sit with Hitlist, our long-form conversational series, it does occur to me that he’s regularly mentioned in chats with other guests. With Kashyap, of course.
The last one was with actor Abhay Deol. As it turns out, Motwane and Deol were buddies in school: “He used to invite us over to his house to watch movies.” Isn’t that a close enough Bollywood connection for someone who claims to have grown up far removed from showbiz in general, with no practical understanding or ambition to enter films as such?
“But it’s a movie star’s house, ya. That way, Abhishek Bachchan used to be in my school [Jamnabai Narsee] for a couple of years. His cousin Namrata is a close friend. I have been to Abhishek’s birthday parties in Madh Island, where [Amitabh] Bachchan made an appearance. This is peak-Bachchan, in 1984. You are seeing the hero of your dreams, standing in front of you! He’d come off the set, wearing boots. We hero-worshipped him, and I’d gone to Dharmendra’s house to watch movies. There used to be a badminton court. Maybe it’s still there. We were like, wow, Dharmendra plays baddy here!”
As for Abhay: “It’s when he returned from LA that we became close. Because when he came back, we shared an interest in the same kind of music and movies. We were hanging together, and writing some stuff together.
“We worked together on [the script of] Dev D, and on a couple of things before that. I was actually in the room, when Imtiaz [Ali] narrated to him Socha Na Tha [his debut film]. So, yeah, that historical moment happened in my presence! We have tried a couple of times [to work together] and then it just has never happened, and then we have sort of given up.”
The other time Motwane figured similarly, in conversation, was with Saif Ali Khan, who was rather salty, we have to say. He wholly trashed the second season of Sacred Games altogether — speaking about how a friend and him had popped a champagne to catch it together at home. A little later, they just shut off the frickin’ TV. Rather harsh!
“But that’s Saif. You can’t hold a grudge against things he says. He speaks his mind. That is exactly the way he is. I totally love him for that. You can say things back to him, and he will take it. He respects that. We respect him.”
That said, Sacred Games season one (S01), that Motwane put together for Netflix, based on Vikram Chandra’s tome of the same name, was incredibly received. While Netflix seldom shares its viewership numbers, they were quick to point out that two out of three viewers of Sacred Games came from outside India — making it truly the first Indian global show.
What one noticed was the sheer audacity of the characters. Again, the world-building. And just the use of uninhibited, uncensored visuals, language, grime, grit, and the madness of Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Gaitonde, opposite the vulnerability of Saif’s Ali Khan’s Sartaj.
And then, whatever happened to Sacred Games in the second season — the thriller lost its sheen, veering into spaces so separate from the first. For all the criticism its way, it was hardly the ghastly season it was made out to be. Just not close enough to the first.
Motwane admits, “I think what happened with Sacred Games is that on S01, we had the luxury of time. Once Netflix said, okay, fine, we are going to do it — we got about a year to write the stuff, before starting shoot. I just wanted to do it without any assistance. I wanted to create a writers’ room, come together, make it without having to say, ‘Oh let’s get some firangi to come in and guide us on how to do this, because we’ve never done it before!’”
“What happened on S02 was that we had to turn it around in 12 months! So, while I was almost in the middle of shooting [S01], there is already the idea [that you have to start to work] on what to do with S02. While I was on post-production, the writing was actually happening. By the time I’m free to be able to get far deeper into [the writing of] S02, it’s too late for me to make my presence felt.”
“In the way that I wanted to make it felt. Which is not to say [there’s] anything wrong with the writing. It’s just that, okay, it’s not mine. It has gone in a different way from what I would have done.”
Time, Motwane says, is what he had the luxury of, with Jubilee (2023; seven years). As with Udaan, of course (2010; five years).
For a while, I didn’t know what I was doing as an actor. You can lose faith in Mumbai-Sidhant Gupta
8:53 AM
Star-maker Vikramaditya Motwane’s latest find is television’s blue-eyed boy Sidhant Gupta, whose intense role as Jay in Jubilee has helped the actor get back on track
Aastha Atray Banan (MID-DAY; April 23, 2023)
In the web series Jubilee, the character of Jamshed Khan, an upcoming actor, is touted as the next big thing. Everyone wants to get a piece of him, because talent like this doesn’t come by too often. In real life, actor Sidhant Gupta who plays theatre director Jay Khanna in the show, is drawing similar curiosity ever since the show released on Amazon Prime last week.
Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, Jubilee is set in the Hindi film industry of the 1940s and ’50s (it starts in 1947), and is about a bunch of people trying to find their destiny in tinsel town. It also stars Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee as big-shot producer Srikant Roy, Aparshakti Khurana as his Man Friday, and Aditi Rao Hydari as Roy’s wife and a top actress.
At a time where loud crime dramas are getting eyeballs, Jubilee is quiet, but charming. Especially Gupta as the intense, yet light-in-manner Jay. Gupta last grabbed eyeballs as Kunj Sarna from Zee TV’s romantic-drama Tashan-e-Ishq. The director has a knack for giving young actors a role that sheds a completely new light on what they could do with their craft—think Abhay Deol in Dev D, Rajat Barmecha in Udaan, Harshvardhan Kapoor in Bhavesh Joshi Superhero and Ranveer Singh in Lootera. As Jubilee gathers steam, Motwane and Gupta speak to us about process and progress.
Edited excerpts from the interview.
Vikram, when did you first see Siddhant in action—was it his show or an audition?
Vikramaditya Motwane: It was an audition! I haven’t seen this show.
Sidhant Gupta: Don’t see it!
VM: Is it bad? Anyway, now, it’s too late. I saw him audition with my casting director. Jay was a very crucial bit of the puzzle. He had to be likeable, and intense. He had to be a good dancer, and very charming. I think Siddhant kind of grew into it. We could see the intensity, and he did serious scenes very well. The rest of it was a tossup—we had faith and went ahead. We knew he was a good actor and that he would pull it off... he has done better than I thought.
Siddhant, you grew up in Jammu where you played basketball and did professional swimming. How did Bollywood happen?
SG: All I wanted to do was play. I wanted to be outside, not be contained. I think I became an actor because it allowed me to do everything. I had no plans—I just landed up in Mumbai. I sailed through life, and it brought me here.
What kind of research went into the show. Was Jay’s character inspired from things you had heard all these years, Vikram?
VM: It’s a mix of many things. The research was in stages—the emotional stage, which was hearing about these stories for 20 years, more like urban legends. Then it was about the geopolitics—independence, refugee camps, etc. The last bit was production research—art, costumes, set, newspapers. With the actors, there wasn’t much research really. We worked out the style we wanted to give each one, and then started shooting. We did work on their language. There were no specific instruction. For Sidhant, it was all in the page, and he had to get it. We sort of found the character, and we both worked on it.
Is Jay an intense guy who hides his emotions by being extremely charming and happy?
VM: That’s Sidhant you are talking about, not Jay!
SG: (Laughs) Jay likes to share, because he values emotions a lot—that’s all there is! For a while, I didn’t know what I was doing as an actor. You can lose faith in this city, because there is so much insecurity. It’s like a chase. This script made me believe again. I had decided I won’t do any more of this, till I know why I am doing this. And the answer came to me with Jubilee. This work chose me, and I chose it. I didn’t give up, and I got this character, who doesn’t know how to give up.
Vikram, all your work has been very different from each other. What has making this show taught you?
VM: I had reached a turning point before Jubilee, maybe with AK vs AK (2020). I started enjoying the material. I had a great time doing Jubilee too. Every film you do, becomes a new challenge, and I like that... it’s like enjoying going from one relationship to another. And you find yourself in that journey.
Sidhant, has this role changed your life?
SG: It changed my life right from the moment I became part of it. It’s given me a lot... that’s the kind of give and take you have with a role like this. Right now, I like this feeling of putting your heart into something, and it’s connecting with others. This is the magic of cinema!
We will try to shoot the Abhinav Bindra biopic early next year-Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor
8:17 AM
Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; September 15, 2022)
It’s been a long time since the Abhinav Bindra biopic was announced. Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor will step into the shoes of the Olympic gold medalist sport shooter. It’s been five years, and the film is taking time to roll. In fact, there was a buzz that the film got shelved, which Anil Kapoor, who’s associated with the project, denied.
Talking about the film, Harsh Varrdhan said, “I think you should ask my father (about the film’s commencement). He is the better person to answer this question as he is producing it. We are definitely trying to make it and shoot the film at the beginning of next year.”
He further added, “Honestly, it was supposed to happen even before AK vs AK and Thar (the films that released on an OTT platform recently). So, you see, we went ahead and made two films in the middle, but have not been able to start the Abhinav Bindra biopic. It is just a very big responsibility.”
Harsh says that the film requires him to be prepared thoroughly before it goes on the floor. He shares, “The story kind of takes place in a time period of 15-20 years. The attention to detail, production value, all of it needs to be perfect. You have to be absolutely sure and everybody (associated with the project) has to align.”
I see the same repackaged films, you can replace any actor with anyone-Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor
8:20 AM
Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; July 2, 2022)
Since his debut in 2016 with Mirzya, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor has steered away from conventional Bollywood cinema and the typical “hero” image that comes with it. Any regrets? No. In fact, the actor says that with his choice of films, filmmakers can see that he has set out on a different route. After turning producer with his last project, he now wants to try his hand at writing, too. In a chat with BT, Harsh Varrdhan opens up about his new-found love for photography, the joy of becoming a mama soon and his views on the way our cinema is shaping up and more. Read On…
It’s been nearly six years since you set out to carve a different path for yourself in showbiz with your choice of roles and movies, which have been far from typical. Now that we are increasingly seeing actors taking the leap and dabbling in different kinds of films, do you feel a certain sense of validation about the choices you have made so far?
I have always received appreciation for my projects like Mirzya, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, AK vs AK or Spotlight (Ray) from a certain section of the audience and I am happy about that. I have always been picky and patient. I don’t mind waiting for the right project to come my way. Even for my last release, Thar (which he also produced), I received positive feedback. I got great reviews from the international media as well. There was a lot of positivity on social media too. I couldn’t hope for more. A response like this has certainly been like a validation for me for sure.
With this, one can be sure that the audience is ready for this kind of content. We are in times where you can experiment with content which wasn’t the case 10 years ago. With my choice of projects, filmmakers can see for themselves that I have set out on a different route. There are filmmakers who have appreciated me and my choices. People cannot predict my choices. This is what makes it exciting for me and there is no plan or strategy in that sense.
Currently, we are seeing that it’s mostly commercial films that are ruling the box office. The unconventional movies, the ones made on a smaller scale, are taking the digital route. Don’t you want to surprise your fans by doing heroic things on the big screen where people whistle at your dialogues and dance on your songs in theatres?
First of all, I don’t think I have any fans. I have a certain section of audience who has liked my work and my choice of cinema. They would be disappointed if I do the typical commercial films. These are the people who count on me for not doing the typical stuff and giving them a different kind of an experience with my projects. Obviously, that audience might not be even 5 or 10 per cent of the fan-following that a huge star in our country enjoys. Whatever it is, I want to keep the trust and loyalty of that audience. In the end, I want to do my kind of cinema whether it releases on OTT or in theatre, that doesn’t matter.
Recently, in an interview, Varun Dhawan said that you are the one that started a parallel cinema movement, and he immediately got trolled for his statement on social media. What was your reaction to that?
These days people just take off on the internet as they don’t have anything to do besides making fun of famous people. They don’t know how humorous Varun Dhawan as a person is. His humour is very tongue-in-cheek. I am sure he meant that I have been doing off-beat, alternative films. He just framed his statement the way he did, and then you have these people sitting there on social media to pull you down. For someone who has been in the industry much longer than I have, it was very encouraging of him to say that. His words have been very reassuring. Once again, let me put it out straight, I don’t think what I do is parallel cinema. I think I do very normal films. It is just that my movies are a little different compared to the typical Bollywood masala format. That doesn’t mean they are parallel films, but are just regular films that anybody can watch and understand.
Going by your posts online, you seem to have been exploring photography as a hobby. Is that how you relax and unwind?
These days I have taken to photography using a film camera. The last few pictures I posted on social media were clicked using a film camera. You load a roll, do the settings, make sure the light is right, shoot and then develop the roll before you get to see the final picture. It isn’t instant like the digital camera we use these days. I find this process very beautiful. I began exploring this after Rohan Mehra (actor, son of Vinod Mehra) gifted it to me a couple of months ago. Likewise, recently my family got me a film camera from Germany, too. While that works as a way to relax and unwind, I also like to put on music and go for walks around my house in Mumbai. I like to lift weights, travel and watch a lot of movies. I play sports like football and cricket. I love playing both the games, but I don’t as I am scared if I get injured, it will result in my work schedule going haywire.
You turned producer with your last film on OTT, are you going to back more projects? Would you also like to explore writing?
Honestly, I don’t know what’s the next thing I am going to produce. In the near future, I see myself only taking up projects strictly as an actor. Oh yes, at some point, I would definitely like to write something for myself. It is on my career’s to-do list for sure. I do write a lot. In fact, I went to college to be a writer.
You are going to be a mama soon with your sister Sonam expecting her first baby. Are you excited about it? Are you good at handling kids?
Yes, I am excited. Let’s just hope that the delivery is normal and Sonam is okay. Honestly speaking, I am not good with kids. It is a new experience for all of us. So, let’s see how it goes.
----------------------------------------
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 2, 2022)
While his father, actor Anil Kapoor, and sister, Sonam K Ahuja, are mainstream film actors, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor chose to not take the same path. The actor has been doing unconventional projects and is proud of the way his career has shaped up so far. “I see the same repackaged, rehashed version of most films. I find them really boring and feel all actors are interchangeable in that format (mainstream cinema). There is no novelty to any of it. It’s a cycle of the same thing, with a couple of alterations here and there,” says the 31-year-old, who was last seen in the film, Thar.
Harsh says there is no dearth of good content, but such subjects either get stalled or go to the “bigger stars”. The actor explains, “Sometimes, such films (movies with unconventional storylines) don’t even get shot. Bhavesh Joshi Superhero (2018) and Thar are the kind of films that make very little compromise in terms of creativity. That’s why they stand out.”
Since he is particular about the kind of projects he signs, the actor, who began his career with director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya (2016), has only done a handful of films so far. “I am not the kind of actor who has to do back-to-back projects. It takes time for all my films, because they are not typical Bollywood films,” he ends.
It was Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor who brought Thar to me-Anil Kapoor
8:45 AM
Reuniting after AK vs AK, Anil and Harshvarrdhan on Thar’s four-year journey from drawing board to screens
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; April 11, 2022)
There’s a charm to Western noir movies, you’d agree. Anil Kapoor and Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor are ready to give the genre a go with Thar. While the two have shared screen space before in AK vs AK (2020), it was Harshvarrdhan’s idea to cast his actor-father in Raj Singh Chaudhary’s directorial venture.
Anil remembers being blown away by the Netflix film that revolves around Harshvarrdhan’s Siddharth who goes to a remote village in Rajasthan that has been rocked by violent killings. “It was Harsh who brought the film to me. His faith in the story, and the fact that it was a new genre for me and hence, a new learning opportunity — these were reasons enough for me to do the film. The story strikes the perfect balance between gritty and slick, fast-paced yet nuanced,” says Anil.
That it teams him up with his son is sheer joy for the senior actor. He adds, “Harsh has a unique approach to his craft. Working with him was a learning experience for me. I can’t wait to do it again with the Abhinav Bindra biopic.”
With Thar set to drop online on May 6, it marks the culmination of a four-year journey for Harshvarrdhan. The actor remembers receiving a call from Vikramaditya Motwane in 2018 regarding the film. “He said he had a script for me. When I read it, I wanted to do it. It was meant to be produced under Phantom Films, but the company dissolved after a few months. After that, for a year, I met several producers, trying to get the film going. Raj and I were [simultaneously] working on the script, and I just fell into the role of a producer. Finally, one day, a producer came to offer me a love story. I told him about this movie instead, and [he was on board],” he recounts, adding that they proceeded to do a test shoot with Anil to understand their synergy. “We performed three key scenes. Around the same time, we were talking to Netflix about AK vs AK. We shared the script of Thar, and the test shoot. They were excited by our vision.”
The actor, who plays an intense character, says the idea was to make the performance “almost meditative”. “I worked with Jeff Goldberg, my acting coach, on the character’s backstory, and with Natasha Goldberg on my voice. I put on nearly 10 kilos in two months to play Sid. He doesn’t speak much, and tries to conceal who he is. Within that [framework], I had to make it engaging.”
Piracy is at an all time high in the age of OTT releases
8:18 AM
Black Widow to Shershaah, this year’s most-awaited films were pirated soon after their digital release. What makes OTT platforms so vulnerable?
Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; August 29, 2021)
Ahead of their digital release in India, Black Widow and Cruella have both been available on pirated films’ websites here for months, following their international streaming release. Not just Hollywood, even the latest Bollywood flicks like Shershaah, AK vs AK, Mimi, Toofaan, Sardar Ka Grandson, and Roohi were immediately available on such sites post their digital release in India. Pirated versions of most films released on digital platforms are made available before or on the same day through links on WhatsApp and Telegram groups. In some cases — like Salman Khan-starrer Radhe, which released in May this year — pirates have been daring enough to even announce the sale of the movie on Facebook after its release and three persons were arrested under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Copyright Act in this particular case.
People from the industry find piracy with regard to OTT releases especially worrying, as not only can the films be pirated easily after they release digitally, but also because illegally downloadable versions of the films are just as good in quality as the originals.
‘UNLIKE BEFORE, NOW QUALITY OF PIRATED FILMS AT PAR WITH ORIGINAL’
Yogesh Raizada, an exhibitor, says, “Easy availability of high quality downloads of latest releases is worrisome. Earlier, pirates would record in cinemas and only poor quality versions were available on pirated films’ websites. People used to also avoid watching pirated films because of bad quality.”
Many avid streamers tell us they watch pirated content because it’s free and high definition versions are easily available. One user says, “I’m already paying for broadband. Now, if I start paying for every service that I use online, then what’s the point? Also, I don’t download pirated films. My friends send links.”
Another user says, “I don’t download Japanese, Spanish or Korean films, as in most cases the subtitle file is missing, and it is impossible to understand these without them. I only watch Hindi and English films on websites with pirated films.”
WHY DON’T FILMMAKERS COMPLAIN AGAINST OTT PIRACY?
Few arrests have been made related to OTT piracy, as according to Anyesh Roy, DCP, Cyber Cell, Delhi Police, they haven’t received any complaints yet. So, what is stopping the producers from taking collective action? Lawyers say that while streaming content and pirates have moved on to far better technologies, the law has not caught up yet and that’s why enforcement of the Copyright Act is difficult.
There are several steps that can be taken to stop piracy. Vivek Narayan Sharma, a Supreme Court lawyer, says, “Producers should contact the police if their film is pirated and ensure that an FIR is registered, so investigations can follow. The reason why producers stay away from any legal action is because of the long procedure, but film piracy is a mass violation of copyright. Platforms where these films are circulated should also be made a party to it and it is the liability of these platforms to remove the content. Last year, newspapers went to the Delhi High Court stating how their PDF copies were shared through chats and the court ordered that unauthorised dissemination be stopped. If producers or film bodies will contact the court or the government will step in to create a mechanism then it can be stopped. The court can give an injunction to stop its circulation on unlicensed platforms if it is pirated.”
Vivek Sood, a senior advocate of Delhi High Court says, “Piracy of content from streaming platforms can be stopped by three methods. First, better security of content which can’t be bypassed (and if they get to know about software which assists in piracy, they can contact the court). Two, make content easily accessible and cheaper. Third, take action against organised piracy rackets i.e. go to court to get websites blocked or complain against pirates, as any action taken sends out a message to others.”
On the other hand, an official from an OTT platform points out that when titles are released all at once around the world on streaming services, it instead helps address piracy and protects the creative community’s hard work. They add, “Platforms like ours have economical subscription plans which cost less than `200 a month, which also has helped in fighting piracy as people can watch content on their own terms without any hassles rather than resorting to piracy.”
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‘IT’S NOT DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE WITH SOFTWARE KNOW-HOW TO COPY FILMS FROM STREAMING WEBSITES’
As per an international publication, Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson’s recent lawsuit against Disney listed “piracy” as one of the reasons she was against the makers releasing the superhero film simultaneously in theatres and on digital platforms. The National Association of Theatre Owners, Los Angeles, in its statement issued in July, said, “Piracy no doubt further affected Black Widow’s performance, and will affect its future performance in international markets where it has yet to open. Pristine digital copies became available within minutes of release on Disney+. Black Widow was the most torrented movie for the week ending July 12. It is also available on myriad illegal streaming sites all over the internet. This was also the case for all simultaneous releases (Wonder Woman 1984, Godzilla vs Kong, Cruella, Mortal Kombat, etc).”
Sunny Nehra, a cyber expert, says, “Most streaming platforms use DRM protection. Pirates use screen recording and other tools specially developed to crack DRM. It is not that difficult to crack for software developers or those who work in this field.”
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CAN YOU BE ARRESTED FOR WATCHING A PIRATED FILM?
Let’s say your friend forwarded you the link to a movie downloaded from a pirated website or which was shared on an unlicensed platform. Or suppose you go on a pirated website to watch a film. Can either of these actions land you or your friend in jail? Vivek Sood, a senior advocate of Delhi High Court, says, “Downloading a film/web series/documentary from an unlicensed platform is a violation of intellectual property rights. But you can’t be arrested. Under Section 51 of the Copyright Act ‘reproduction of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work in the form of a cinematograph film shall be deemed to be an infringing copy.’ However, Section 52 clearly states that private viewing is not an infringement. What does that mean? It means if you forward it to others or sell it, then it is an infringement and you can be arrested.”
However, Sood adds, “While you can’t be arrested, for watching pirated content, you can still be hauled up, restrained and the OTT platform which has the original content can even ask you to pay for the damage (fine) if you watch their content from an unlicensed platform.”
Arjun persuaded me to do the role in Ranbir Kapoor's next with Luv Ranjan-Boney Kapoor
8:23 AM
After a cameo in AK vs AK, producer Boney Kapoor turns actor as he plays the full-fledged role of Ranbir Kapoor's father in Luv's next.
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; January 11, 2021)
There is another Kapoor on the block, ready to test his acting skills. Before you think of a 20-something star kid, let us tell you we're talking about producer Boney Kapoor. The filmmaker, who was recently seen in a cameo in brother Anil Kapoor's film AK vs AK (2020), will essay a full-fledged role in Luv Ranjan's yet-untitled next featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor. He will play Ranbir's father in the romantic comedy. Interestingly, the actor's great-grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor and Boney's producer father Surinder Kapoor were cousins.
Recounting how the acting offer came his way, Boney says, "When Luv and his team were writing the script, they had a simple reference point for the character of Ranbir's father — 'somebody like Boney Kapoor'. One fine day, they thought, why not have Boney play the role?" When Ranjan approached him initially, the producer turned down the offer as he had his hands full with several projects, including Ajay Devgn's Maidaan, Tamil film Valimai and Telugu offering Vakeel Saab.
While he understood Boney's dilemma and started scouting for other actors, the director came knocking on his door again in December — having watched AK vs AK, he was confident that Boney was perfect for the role. "Luv insisted I do the role. He reached out to Arjun, who persuaded me for it. While the team will be shooting at a stretch in Delhi, they have given me the liberty to fly down to Mumbai and attend to my productions," he says.
Boney's late wife Sridevi, brothers Anil and Sanjay, and children Arjun and Janhvi have all had a long romance with the camera while he stayed behind the scenes. Is he nervous about shifting gears, as he joins the unit in the capital this week? "I don't have butterflies in my stomach. I have been calm during life's ups and downs, so why should I feel apprehensive now?"
(Crisp) Movie Review: AK vs AK by FENIL SETA
2:20 PM
AK vs AK is a crazy and mad ride. Avinash Sampath's story is truly unique and never before seen in Indian cinema. Avinash Sampath and Vikramaditya Motwane's screenplay adds to the thrill and also to the humour quotient. Anurag Kashyap's dialogues are realistic and the references to Bollywood and its celebs are hilarious. Vikramaditya Motwane's direction does total justice. This was a very challenging film as it’s presented in a found footage fashion. Also, there are multiple long takes and to get it right is praiseworthy. On the flipside, the film drags a bit in the middle. One wishes this 1 hour 48 minutes long film was 10-15 minutes shorter. The climax is unpredictable but the sudden developments are difficult to digest. Speaking of performances, Anil Kapoor delivers one of the greatest performances of his career. One has to see it to believe the kind of performance he has managed to deliver with this film. Anurag Kashyap has always been a great actor and this film confirms that. There was a certain degree of madness required for the part which he brings to the fore effortlessly. Yogita Bihani is hardly seen in the film but does fine. Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor is over the top but that was the requirement of the film. Sonam Kapoor, Boney Kapoor are okay in their cameos. Vipul Deshpande (Police inspector), Pawan Singh (Javed), Mohammed Kaleem Zia (Rahim Chacha) and Manoj Mathre (Hotel Manager Mathur) leave a mark. All in all, AK vs AK is a wacky, experimental effort that succeeds big time. Don’t miss!
My rating - **** out of 5!
Fenil's Bollywood Talk # 653
10:15 AM
2 SMALL & BIG FILMS TO ARRIVE IN CINEMAS & OTT THIS CHRISTMAS
The beneficial Christmas weekend is here. Unlike Diwali, when a small film Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari released in cinemas, this time, things are little better. After all, Wonder Woman 1984, one of the most awaited films of the year, will be releasing. Audiences would have the choice of watching this flick and also three more. My analysis:
1. WONDER WOMAN 1984: It is the sequel of the 2017 flick Wonder Woman and stars Gal Gadot yet again in the lead role. The director, Patty Jenkins, too returns to helm the sequel. The first film was set during World War I while part 2 is based in the year 1984 at the height of the Cold War. The trailer promises loads of entertainment and big-scale action. Gal looks stunning and her casting has added a lot to the film’s brand value. She also has quite a following in India.
The first part released with minimal hype and only in English. It was released amidst 7-8 Hindi releases and a major English film (Baywatch). Yet it had emerged as the top film of all and had a lifetime of Rs. 19-20 crore. The opening day collections were Rs. 2.50 crore. Wonder Woman 1984 releases today (Wednesday December 23) with paid previews from 5:00 PM onwards. From tomorrow, it’ll have a full-day release to take advantage of Christmas Eve, when people do come out in huge numbers. It is getting a wide release, of more than 1000 screens, making it the biggest release of the season. The film is in 3D but the makers have decided to release only in 2D, fearing that some theatres might end up giving used glasses to patrons.
Sadly, it faces many challenges. Firstly, the perception is that audiences might not come in huge numbers. Secondly, the film is releasing simultaneously in cinemas and on HBO Max platform in many markets of North America and Europe. Once it’s out digitally, it’s pirated HD print would make its way on the internet. Trade fears that a chunk of moviegoers would prefer to watch the film at home illegally instead of spending money to see it in cinemas. And lastly, a major roadblock has been put in Maharashtra after the state government imposed a curfew from 11 pm to 6 am. As a result, all shows post 8:00 pm had to be cancelled. The exhibitors have been quite hurt and angry with this decision as this film had recorded very good bookings for late evening and night shows from December 23. Not to forget, the two prime markets of the film are in Maharashtra, Mumbai and Pune.
Due to these reasons, it’s difficult to say if Wonder Woman 1984 would be able to collect more than day 1 collections of part 1, which were Rs. 2.50 crore. However, it releases in Hindi and South languages as well. Also, the international reviews have been encouraging. The paid previews collections can be around Rs. 30-40 lakhs while Thursday can be around Rs. 90 lakhs-1 crore. It is from Friday December 25 that the film would collect tremendously. Wonder Woman’s first weekend was around Rs. 8 crore and maybe, the collections of the sequel might not be able to reach that mark. The target for this film would be to go beyond Tenet’s lifetime collections, which are around Rs. 11 crore. With the year-end being a time when work is slow and people want to enjoy, the weekday collections can be encouraging. In fact, Tenet’s lifetime record can be broken by Wonder Woman 1984 in the first week itself.
2. SHAKEELA: It stars Richa Chadha as Southern star of the 80s and 90s, Shakeela. Directed by Indrajit Lankesh, it also stars Pankaj Tripathi. It seems to be in The Dirty Picture zone. But hype and awareness are almost zero. And moreover, it’s a theatrical release, from December 25. A film with some excitement like Indoo Ki Jawani opened at Rs. 20 lakhs. This flick might open at less than Rs. 10 lakhs sadly.
3. COOLIE NO 1: It is the remake of the much-loved 1995 film of the same name. Just like the original, it’s also directed by David Dhawan. Starring Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Jaaved Jaaferi and Johny Lever, it looks like a big-screen entertainer. Sadly, the film is releasing on Amazon Prime, on December 25. The fear is that just like Laxmii, this film too would get ridiculed. After all, it’s the elite audiences who subscribe to these channels and they despise such masala films. A real idea of the film’s verdict would be out when this film would be aired on television.
4. AK VS AK: It is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and stars Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap. Interestingly, both play themselves, but exaggerated versions of it. The film shows that Anurag Kashyap kidnaps Anil Kapoor’s daughter Sonam and compels Anil to find her, while filming the whole experience in real time. The trailer is crazy and it’s sure to get viewership, especially among the elite who would love to watch such experimental content. It releases on December 24 on Netflix, which is the day Anil Kapoor celebrates his birthday.
The beneficial Christmas weekend is here. Unlike Diwali, when a small film Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari released in cinemas, this time, things are little better. After all, Wonder Woman 1984, one of the most awaited films of the year, will be releasing. Audiences would have the choice of watching this flick and also three more. My analysis:
1. WONDER WOMAN 1984: It is the sequel of the 2017 flick Wonder Woman and stars Gal Gadot yet again in the lead role. The director, Patty Jenkins, too returns to helm the sequel. The first film was set during World War I while part 2 is based in the year 1984 at the height of the Cold War. The trailer promises loads of entertainment and big-scale action. Gal looks stunning and her casting has added a lot to the film’s brand value. She also has quite a following in India.
The first part released with minimal hype and only in English. It was released amidst 7-8 Hindi releases and a major English film (Baywatch). Yet it had emerged as the top film of all and had a lifetime of Rs. 19-20 crore. The opening day collections were Rs. 2.50 crore. Wonder Woman 1984 releases today (Wednesday December 23) with paid previews from 5:00 PM onwards. From tomorrow, it’ll have a full-day release to take advantage of Christmas Eve, when people do come out in huge numbers. It is getting a wide release, of more than 1000 screens, making it the biggest release of the season. The film is in 3D but the makers have decided to release only in 2D, fearing that some theatres might end up giving used glasses to patrons.
Sadly, it faces many challenges. Firstly, the perception is that audiences might not come in huge numbers. Secondly, the film is releasing simultaneously in cinemas and on HBO Max platform in many markets of North America and Europe. Once it’s out digitally, it’s pirated HD print would make its way on the internet. Trade fears that a chunk of moviegoers would prefer to watch the film at home illegally instead of spending money to see it in cinemas. And lastly, a major roadblock has been put in Maharashtra after the state government imposed a curfew from 11 pm to 6 am. As a result, all shows post 8:00 pm had to be cancelled. The exhibitors have been quite hurt and angry with this decision as this film had recorded very good bookings for late evening and night shows from December 23. Not to forget, the two prime markets of the film are in Maharashtra, Mumbai and Pune.
Due to these reasons, it’s difficult to say if Wonder Woman 1984 would be able to collect more than day 1 collections of part 1, which were Rs. 2.50 crore. However, it releases in Hindi and South languages as well. Also, the international reviews have been encouraging. The paid previews collections can be around Rs. 30-40 lakhs while Thursday can be around Rs. 90 lakhs-1 crore. It is from Friday December 25 that the film would collect tremendously. Wonder Woman’s first weekend was around Rs. 8 crore and maybe, the collections of the sequel might not be able to reach that mark. The target for this film would be to go beyond Tenet’s lifetime collections, which are around Rs. 11 crore. With the year-end being a time when work is slow and people want to enjoy, the weekday collections can be encouraging. In fact, Tenet’s lifetime record can be broken by Wonder Woman 1984 in the first week itself.
2. SHAKEELA: It stars Richa Chadha as Southern star of the 80s and 90s, Shakeela. Directed by Indrajit Lankesh, it also stars Pankaj Tripathi. It seems to be in The Dirty Picture zone. But hype and awareness are almost zero. And moreover, it’s a theatrical release, from December 25. A film with some excitement like Indoo Ki Jawani opened at Rs. 20 lakhs. This flick might open at less than Rs. 10 lakhs sadly.
3. COOLIE NO 1: It is the remake of the much-loved 1995 film of the same name. Just like the original, it’s also directed by David Dhawan. Starring Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Jaaved Jaaferi and Johny Lever, it looks like a big-screen entertainer. Sadly, the film is releasing on Amazon Prime, on December 25. The fear is that just like Laxmii, this film too would get ridiculed. After all, it’s the elite audiences who subscribe to these channels and they despise such masala films. A real idea of the film’s verdict would be out when this film would be aired on television.
4. AK VS AK: It is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and stars Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap. Interestingly, both play themselves, but exaggerated versions of it. The film shows that Anurag Kashyap kidnaps Anil Kapoor’s daughter Sonam and compels Anil to find her, while filming the whole experience in real time. The trailer is crazy and it’s sure to get viewership, especially among the elite who would love to watch such experimental content. It releases on December 24 on Netflix, which is the day Anil Kapoor celebrates his birthday.
Anil Kapoor & Anurag Kashyap are secure enough to make fun of themselves-Vikramaditya Motwane
8:12 AM
AK vs AK director commends Anil, Anurag for headlining mockumentary that takes digs at them
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; December 22, 2020)
You can't bracket Vikramaditya Motwane — just when you think he has a knack for telling tender love stories like Lootera (2013), he surprises you with the gritty Trapped (2016). This time around, the filmmaker has shifted gears to a mockumentary with AK vs AK that sees Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap playing themselves.
Motwane says that he had been toying with the premise of the Netflix film over the past seven years. "One of my writer friends from Amsterdam, Avinash Sampath sent this concept to me seven years ago. The idea was fantastic — a film director making a movie on a real-life kidnapping. Casting Anil and Anurag was a blessing; the movie works purely because of my access to them and their lives."
The December 24 release sees Kapoor and Kashyap have an ugly fight, after which the latter abducts his daughter Sonam K Ahuja. Kapoor's desperate search for Sonam forms the crux of the story. According to Motwane, the premise holds water because of his protagonists' strong off-screen personalities — Kapoor, the flamboyant actor, and Kashyap, the "full-of-himself" director. "That makes it juicy to pit them against each other. While there is some truth in the things that we are saying, we're exaggerating them [to add the drama to] the movie."
Considering the film thrives on the central characters taking digs at each other, did he have to handle bruised egos on the set? "The characters of Anil and Anurag are willing to make fun of themselves because off screen, they are extremely secure artistes. I never felt that any scene was out of bounds. They gave me the comfort to write scenes as I wanted," states the director.
I shamelessly approached Anurag Kashyap & told him that I want to do a film with him-Anil Kapoor
8:19 AM
Eager to collaborate with Kashyap since Paanch, Anil Kapoor on how his wish has been fulfilled with AK vs AK
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; December 19, 2020)
If Anil Kapoor had his way, he would have joined forces with Anurag Kashyap in the early 2000s. But the universe had its own plan — his wish has been fulfilled this year as they share screen space in Netflix's black comedy, AK vs AK that sees the actor and the filmmaker play themselves. The Vikramaditya Motwane-directed film has Kapoor in desperate search of daughter Sonam after Kashyap abducts her.
In the mockumentary's trailer, Kapoor is seen asking Kashyap to make a film with him. Ask the actor if he has ever reached out to a filmmaker for work, and he says, "I am a hungry actor. There have been times when I have told a director that I want to work with him, and he has misunderstood it, thinking, 'Iska time kharab chal raha hai. Iss liye kaam maang raha hai.' I have smiled through such situations, knowing that my call fed his ego. On other occasions, if a filmmaker is new, he may not know how to approach a star. In such cases, one can break the ice by approaching him. Either way, I don't have an ego. If I find a good director, I will go up to him."
In a classic case of art imitating life, the senior actor shares that he had, in fact, reached out to Kashyap during the latter's early days. "I had the honour of giving the mahurat clap for Paanch. As soon as I saw the rushes, I shamelessly approached Anurag, and told him that I want to do a film with him. He wrote not one, but two films for me — Allwyn Kalicharan and Grand Hotel. Unfortunately, neither of the movies was made. Then, I pursued him to write the dialogues for Nayak [2001]."
Kapoor, who has spent close to four decades in the industry, appears to be enjoying his current creative phase as he balances a mainstream Race 3 with the experimental AK vs AK. "[In my younger days] when I would pick an out-of-the-box project, mainstream filmmakers used to get upset, saying, 'Arre, yeh phir art film kar raha hai.' I used to compromise on mainstream films for movies that would challenge me."
IAF objects to uniform, lingo in Anil Kapoor-Anurag Kashyap starrer AK vs AK
10:22 PM
THE TIMES OF INDIA (December 10, 2020)
New Delhi: The Indian Air Force has demanded “withdrawal” of certain scenes from an upcoming Netflix film, ‘AK vs AK’, after its trailer was tweeted by actor Anil Kapoor. “The IAF uniform in this video is inaccurately donned and the language used is inappropriate. This does not conform to the behavioural norms of those in the armed forces of India. The related scenes need to be withdrawn,” said the IAF, in a tweet from its official handle.
After a storm on social media, with many military veterans attacking the film that will be released on December 24, Kapoor tweeted a video to “sincerely apologise for unintentionally hurting anyone’s sentiments” because the trailer showed him using “unparliamentary language” while wearing an IAF uniform.
In the video Kapoor tweeted to “sincerely apologise for unintentionally hurting anyone’s sentiments” he explained that his character in the film was an actor playing the role of a distraught IAF officer whose daughter has been kidnapped. “I have always had the utmost respect and gratitude for the selfless service of all our defence personnel,” he said. Netflix, too, tweeted that its intention was not to “disrespect the armed forces of India in any regard”.
As per Netflix, "AK vs AK" is a Vikramaditya Motwane movie, starring Kapoor and director Anurag Kashyap, playing "themselves as actors". In the one-minute trailer, Kapoor is seen using foul language while sparring with Kashyap.
As was reported by TOI in July, in what some may perceive to be unwarranted censorship in a democratic country, the armed forces have demanded they be allowed to preview all films, documentaries and web series made on them to check for distortions that may hurt the sentiments of serving personnel and veterans.
The IAF in August had also complained to the Central Board of Film Certification against the “undue negative portrayal” of the work culture in the force in the film “Gunjan Saxena, The Kargil Girl”.
In its letter to the censor board, with copies marked to the Karan Johar-owned Dharma Productions and Netflix, the IAF said, “In the aim to glorify the screen character of ‘Ex-Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena', M/s Dharma Productions presented some situations that are misleading and portr ay an inappropriate work culture especially against women in the IAF.”
Times View: The IAF is a much-respected institution. Their reputation is unlikely to be sullied by a scene or two in a commercial movie. The IAF should ignore such trivial acts rather than take serious offence.
OTT releases find place in Oscar entry selection
8:14 AM
Priyanka Dasgupta (BOMBAY TIMES; November 22, 2020)
Kolkata: No film may have released in most of 2020, but India will still send an entry for the Academy Awards. This is the first year that a good number of OTT releases will be among the 27 films that are currently being viewed online by jury members who will select the Indian entry to the Oscars.
Last year, Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Gully Boy’ was selected as India’s Oscar entry. This year, the jury is being chaired by director Rahul Rawail. According to a source, some of the Hindi films submitted for consideration are ‘Sir’, ‘Shikara’, ‘Gunjan Saxena’, ‘Shakuntala Devi’, ‘Bahattar Hoorain’, ‘Malang’, ‘Chhalaang’, ‘Gulabo Sitabo’, ‘Chhapaak’, ‘Bhonsle’, ‘AK vs AK’, ‘Kaamyaab’, ‘Serious Men’, ‘Bulbbul’, ‘I Pad’, ‘Atkan Chatkan’ and ‘Chintu Ka Birthday’.
Of these, ‘Gunjan Saxena’, ‘Serious Men’, ‘Shakuntala Devi’, ‘Bulbbul’, ‘Gulabo Sitabo’, ‘Chintu Ka Birthday’ and ‘Bhonsle’ have already been released on OTT platforms. Three Marathi films —‘Chippa’, ‘The Disciple’ and ‘Bittersweet’— and two Malayalam movies, ‘Moothon’ and ‘Jallikattu’, are also in contention. Not a single Bengali film is in the race this year, though last year ‘Nagarkirtan’, ‘Tarikh-A Timeline’ and ‘Konttho’ were considered.
Director Nila Madha Panda’s Odia film, ‘Yesterday’s Past’ (‘Kalira Atita’) has been submitted. “It is almost like a silent film about a man and the sea. The film is based on the vanishing villages by the sea,” Panda said.
‘Bittersweet’ director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan said it was important that the film representing a country ticked all the important boxes for an Oscar shortlist. The film had an original subject that had never been explored on the Indian screen. It is on how woman sugarcane-cutters in India are “advised” to undergo hysterectomy to save four working days a month that they may lose to the menstrual cycle.
“It is rooted in its country of origin, is about human rights, tells an emotionally charged story and has an international appeal — these are all requisite boxes for an Oscar jury. It will be a privilege to represent the country with such content that received rave reviews at Busan International Film Festival,” Mahadevan said.
Abhinav Bindra biopic will be a game changer-Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor
8:01 AM
Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor on plans to reach a wider audience
Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 10, 2020)
Through the 75 days of the Coronavirus lockdown, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor has been determined to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But the actor’s heart goes out to those who are suffering. “It makes you feel helpless. There’s only so much charity you can do. It’s difficult to see a better future right now, but things will turn around,” he says, adding that the confinement has also made it difficult for him to practice photography.
Harsh, who debuted with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya in 2016, has since appeared in only one other film — Bhavesh Joshi Superhero. But that doesn’t bother him. “I didn’t become an actor to be India’s biggest star. I knew that my path would be different from others. Besides, I am still in my 20s; I have time.”
Unlike his peers, Harsh has refrained from socialising much. “I can’t pretend to be someone I am not. The world today is full of fake people, so it’s my responsibility to be myself. My relevance will build over time, with my filmography. I don’t have to be constantly papped or make online videos for that. No amount of money, fame or validation can make me compromise on my individuality,” he asserts.
The Vikramaditya Motwane directed Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, which released two years ago, failed commercially, but has found acceptance online. “There wasn’t an appetite for the film when it released. The media and the industry didn’t support us as well. Many films get their due later on; it has happened often in my father’s (Anil Kapoor) career too,” he argues, adding, “When you call a film Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, people expect something like Krrish, not a two-and-a-half-hour story of a common man. When it released, I had said that I couldn’t wait for it to come online.”
Owing to its second lease of life, there are queries about a sequel. “We had planned to make more than one film, but then it didn’t make money. With the film receiving so much love now, Vikram might want to revisit it in the future. The fans deserve a sequel,” Harsh says. The actor has multiple digital projects lined up. “I am doing a period thriller set in Rajasthan, written by Anurag Kashyap, and have a small part in AK vs AK, alongside my father,” he informs. So, how was it acting with him? “I was so into my zone during the scene; I didn’t see my father but just another co-actor,” he reminisces.
Harsh’s next big screen project is the Abhinav Bindra biopic, in which he plays the titular character and shares screen with Anil. “The film is still being scripted, and the prep was to begin by the year-end, with the shoot starting next year. It’s nowhere close to the stage for me to start the prep. Right now, my focus is mainly on talking to my writer and director to understand their vision,” he shares.
The future seems uncertain to him but Harsh has high hopes from the project. “I haven’t been able to reach the conventional Hindi film audience yet, but this film will be a game-changer. It is a universal story of a man who got the first individual Olympic gold for India,” he points out.
Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Karan Johar and Dibakar Banerjee to roll four films for Netflix
8:16 AM
Anil Kapoor in a working still of AK vs AK
As part of its 2020 slate, Netflix announces Anurag Kashyap's thriller, Vikramaditya Motwane's drama starring Anil Kapoor, and an anthology from Karan Johar
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; January 16, 2020)
A fortnight into 2020 and Netflix is ready to take Indian stories to the world. The streaming giant has called upon Bollywood's brightest and its favourite filmmakers — Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Karan Johar and Dibakar Banerjee — to roll four new films for the year. Kashyap, who has given Netflix India an Emmy-nominated series in Sacred Games, is thrilled to return to the platform for Choked. The film revolves around a bank cashier whose life takes a turn when she finds unlimited money hoarded in her kitchen.The film features Saiyami Kher and Malayalam actor Rohan Mathew. Kashyap says, "I have found a home in Netflix and with every project, I do with them, I'm able to push my creative boundaries a little more. Choked is a story that will appeal to a varied audience."
Johar brings an anthology of four films, tentatively titled The Other, that showcases the complex nature of relationships while focusing on the third person in the equation. Currently, in production, the Dharmatic venture boasts a powerful cast that includes Shefali Shah, Manav Kaul, Nushrat Bharucha and Fatima Sana Shaikh, among others. "An anthology allows us to bring together diverse creative minds to showcase different facets of the same concept. Each director will bring their unique vision to the table, amalgamating in a piece that many viewers will resonate with," states Johar.
After receiving glowing reviews for his short in Ghost Stories, Banerjee explores another facet with Freedom. The film is set 25 years into the future and traces the history of a family in three stories interwoven with the ideological histories of India. "As a filmmaker, I want to move away from cinematic stereotypes. Working on Lust Stories and Ghost Stories gave me renewed hope about creative expression in India. Freedom is the next step forward," says the director. The cast includes Manisha Koirala, Naseeruddin Shah, Huma Qureshi and Kalki Koechlin, among others.
Rounding off the stellar line-up is Motwane with AK vs AK, which stars Anil Kapoor and Kashyap (as reported in mid-day in the Dec 26 edition). The drama revolves around a brash film director who kidnaps the daughter of a well-known movie star. Motwane says, "Netflix is the perfect platform for the film because of the platform's organic disposition to take creative leaps of faith." Kapoor, who makes his digital debut with the drama, acknowledges that trying his hand at a new medium is "exciting as well as daunting". "Being able to take this leap with Vikram and Anurag promises to be an exceptional experience. I can't wait for these stories to come to life."
Anurag Kashyap to team up with Anil Kapoor in Vikramaditya Motwane's next?
7:47 AM
Though his long-planned film with Anil Kapoor didn't materialise, sources say Anurag Kashyap to team up as actor with the star for Vikramaditya Motwane's next
MID-DAY (December 26, 2019)
The universe has a strange sense of humour, and Anurag Kashyap will vouch for it. Only a decade ago, the filmmaker had famously said that he had "suffered a lot" because of Anil Kapoor — the actor reportedly dilly-dallied on fronting Kashyap's film, Allwyn Kalicharan, which eventually led to it being shelved. Now, as luck would have it, the two are set to share screen space in Vikramaditya Motwane's next, titled AK vs AK — a play on the leading men's initials.While Kapoor and Kashyap have a shared history over Allwyn Kalicharan, Motwane's project too has had its own journey. A source reveals, "Earlier, the film was to be made with Shahid Kapoor in the lead. It was then christened AK vs SK, referring to Shahid's initials. However, when things did not work out with him, Vikram approached Anil for the part. The story revolves around a filmmaker-actor jodi whose equation turns sour when their big-budget movie tanks at the box office. The project is expected to go on floors next month in Mumbai."
mid-day reached out to Motwane, who remained unavailable for comment.
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