Upala KBR (DNA; May 31, 2017)

It just might be Abhishek Bachchan’s year. The actor has reportedly signed six films so far. At least three films will see him as characters with special abilities or traits.

In Prabhu Dheva’s Lefty, he plays a man who does everything left-handed, in Sanak, he plays a man with a bad temper. And in Priyadarshan’s next (tentatively titled Bachchan Singh), he plays a man who can get anything he wants when he claps his hands! He also plays a corrupt, paan-chewing cop (like his father Amitabh Bachchan did in Shahenshah, years earlier), who suddenly discovers he has superpowers.

Priyadarshan confirms, “We start shooting for the film from November this year. The film has been written by Rumi Jaffrey and produced by Rajat Rawail. It’s a fantasy fiction film, humorous, something along the lines of Mr India and The Mask.”

Priyan shares more about the film. “Before the interval, Abhishek plays a corrupt cop and then turns a saviour of sorts with powers. He has the power of clapping to get what he wants but he realises it later. It’s my first masala film. While we have tentatively called it Bachchan Singh, we may change the name later,” he adds.

The filmmaker is gearing up to direct his two films this year — a Tamil film in June and Bachchan Singh. “My Tamil film is a rural human drama dealing with social issues and will start in June. After I complete that, we start Bachchan Singh in November.”

DNA (April 10, 2017)

Priyadarshan has been at the heart of a controversy after the winners for the National Awards were declared last Friday. He has been slammed because of Akshay Kumar winning the National Award for Best Actor. Some have claimed that it’s not only because of his close proximity to the Bhool Bhulaiyya director, but also because Akshay has signed him up for his home production for a couple of films. Laughing off the rumours, Priyadarshan says, “I am not doing any film with Akshay. The only two films that I am in talks with actors for, are with Abhishek Bachchan for Bachchan Singh (working title) which is a pure commercial entertainer written by Rumi Jaffrey and Ajay Devgn for the Hindi remake of Oppam. I don’t know why people feel that I can solely influence a jury of 12 to take such an important call. The jury members are artists from all the country and various regional movies. I am just the Chairperson and it was a unanimous decision to vote for Akshay.”