Pratik Sur (DNA; August 26, 2014)


Why such a big gap between your last release and Raja Natwarlal?
This film took a long time to make. I had a release last year Ungli with Karan Johar and Kangana Ranaut. But it got shifted and we were unable to find a suitable release date for that film. Because of that, I had a big gap between my two releases.

Is there a release date for Ungli now?
Ungli will release on December 5, this year. Hum audience ko ungli nahi kar rahe iss baar and it is final that the movie will see the light of day in November (smiles).

Raja Natwarlal was said to be a conman film, but the trailer seems to suggest that it is revenge drama...
Conning people is Raja’s profession. He does that to earn his daily bread and butter and to get his ladylove, Humaima Malik’s character, out of the messy world of bar dancing. In the process, he somehow manages to piss off a big personality, who in turn harms him. Now conning is the only thing that Raja knows. So he uses that to take his revenge against the villain. That’s how the two aspects come together. The fight between the two is like David vs Goliath and therefore he needs someone who can teach him the tricks of the trade better and thus he goes to Paresh Rawal’s character.

How did you deal with the failure of Ghanchakkar?
It is very essential to detach yourself and not let the failure affect you. Ghanchakkar was a film that we all believed in. It was something different but I guess when you are making something different you should be ready to accept a different box-office fate. Failures don’t affect me as films come and go and what matters is to take a stride and learn from films that don’t work. Definitely it got me upset as I expected it to do a lot more in numbers but it didn’t. I had to accept the fate and move on.

...And is it the same when you get a hit? Do you just move on?
Yeah. I do. I feel that if I let that thing hit me, I might not be able to deliver properly. I feel that if I don’t let go then I might not have the hunger to work in the next film. I have always noticed that whenever I am down after a couple of flops that’s when I tend to do my best and come up with my best performance. I guess that greed to do well is very important for an actor.

Alia Bhatt has been labelled as the next Emraan Hashmi. How do you feel about that?
(Laughs) It’s unfortunate. I guess the kind of work that she is doing is phenomenal and the press should find some other name for her and let the serial kisser tag be.

Do you want that tag all for yourself?
It is one tag that has just stuck and it doesn’t go off. It’s just got stuck to my name.

Have you contributed to how actors romance on screen?
Yeah, I have. I have changed the way romance is depicted onscreen. However, some people also think that I have corrupted the way people think about romance. So everyone has their own view points, but yeah I feel I have brought about a change.

There was some Twitter rage directed at you from Mahesh Bhatt, and then you replied to him. Was that all a publicity stunt?
Actually, it wasn’t publicity. Mahesh Bhatt was actually pissed at me for taking out some days from Mr X shooting and giving it to Raja Natwarlal. So instead of calling me up and being mad at me, he just tweeted. That’s what he loves doing. He tweets more than he talks on the phone. So even I thought that I will revert with a tweet. And then it just kept on getting bigger and bigger. But he is family and all got sorted out after a few days and now everything is back to normal.

What’s next after Raja Natwarlal?
I am working on Mr X right now. Ungli will release for sure in November. Then I have my Hollywood project Tigers, which premiers next week at an international film festival. We are still looking for an Indian release date for the film. Let’s hope that happens soon.

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 5, 2014)

Karan Johar’s Ungli starring Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut and Sanjay Dutt has been postponed yet again. This is the third time that the film will not make it to the theatres on the scheduled date.

The film was first pushed forward from September 20, 2013, to early 2014, to avoid a clash with Shahid Kapoor's Phata Poster Nikhla Hero. In January, Karan announced that the film would release on May 23. But now, even this D-day will go abegging.

Mirror has it that Karan felt that the film needed two more songs. Salim Sulaiman, who were to compose the score, had creative differences with Karan. Sanjay Dutt's arrest led to several date changes and unable to cope up, the music director duo eventually opted out from the project. A source close to Karan told Mirror, “Ungli has two songs now, one composed by Salim Sulaiman has been retained and the second is by Sachin Jigar. Even now, Karan is meeting several composers to incorporate two fresh songs.”

But apparently the main reason why the film could not keep its May 23 date is that the entire film had to be re-edited. Added the source, "Karan was not happy with what Shirish Kunder, who was initially editing the film, had cut. So, Deepa Bhatia who has worked on films like Rock On!, Taare Zameen Par and My Name is Khan, was summoned to re-edit the film from scratch. Shirish anyway was more interested in producing a film whose script is almost ready.”

When contacted, director Rensil DSilva confirmed that Ungli will not hit theatres on May 23. “A chain of events have contributed to the delay. Yes, first, it was the Sanju factor. Then, Shirish Kunder walked out and Deepa Bhatia walked in to edit the film. But let me tell you that we have made a really good film. Once we are done with recording and shooting the two new songs, we shall announce a fresh release date,” says D'Silva.

BOMBAY TIMES (March 24, 2014)

Karan Johar is in a benevolent mood again. Earlier, he postponed his Emraan Hashmi-Kangana Ranaut film Ungli because Shahid Kapoor was coming up with his Phata Poster Nikhla Hero. Now, he has once again pushed Ungli from May 23 to a further undecided date because his friend and co-partner on 2 States, Sajid Nadiadwala is bringing Heropanti with Tiger Shroff on the same date in May. Apparently, Ungli is still being edited.