Jagga Jasoos Postponed Again
Anurag Basu's Jagga Jasoos seems to be the longest film of his career, as shooting started at the end of 2013 and is still underway! People who know Basu know he loves to take his own sweet time to shoot and sometimes reshoot. But this has got to be the longest shoot he's ever done. We are already in mid-2015 and Ranbir Kapoor, the main lead in Jagga Jasoos, has finished shooting Bombay Velvet, Tamasha and soon he will start shooting for Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which he will finish in three months. In mid-January 2016, he will resume shooting for Basu's Jagga Jasoos.
But there's another issue. The film had started rolling in South Africa and the makers also shot a schedule in Thailand in early 2014. In the meantime, Kapoor had to don three different looks - one for Bombay Velvet;Tamasha didn't demanded anything specific; and an altogether different look for Johar's film. Alas, when he returns to shooting for Jagga Jasoos, the earlier footage will look dated. So Basu has decided to reshoot when the film starts rolling in January.
So the film will be shot between mid-January and April, that is, if Basu is happy with the shoot as he has a penchant for reshooting. But there's another hiccup - the music of the film is not ready. Pritam wants to take his time and craft the songs according to the scenes, which means it will be a while before the editing and music are done. In all probability, the film will be postponed, yet again, from June 3, 2016.
PS: The film was to release on May 29, 2015, then August 2015 and then November 27, 2015. The current date is June 3, 2016.
UTV Does It Again!
Just when most of us in film trade believed that UTV's unbelievable winning streak at the BO would finally come to an end with Phantom, one of India's leading studios once again pulled a rabbit out of the hat and delivered a success, with a superb opening weekend last week and steady weekday numbers for the film. Sure, luck plays a hand in a business like the movie business, but what is now clear to most with us, is that this studio has through the years developed an uncanny creative ability to spot winners, and once it finds them, takes them further than anyone would have imagined possible.
Look at the facts yourself - UTV's track record last year was PK, Kick, 2 States, Haider, Heropanti and Filmistaan, not to mention Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America, each film very different from the others in genre, each with different creative collaborators with wildly varying creative sensibilities. But all these films had two things in common: (a) each one was successful and (b) they were all UTV productions and releases.
This year, so far, the studio has delivered Cinderella, Avengers Age of Ultron, ABCD 2 and now Phantom. When Bang Bang and Haider were slated for a BO clash last year, no one gave the Vishal Bhardwaj movie a chance. Bhardwaj himself was coming off a series of commercial failures and so was Shahid Kapoor. But the team was not fazed. Through razor-sharp strategic marketing and distribution, the studio ensured that Haider got just the right promotion and platform it deserved to shine. And the rest is history!
This year, Phantom seemed like the movie that would finally smudge this stellar track record. Saif Ali Khan has had a series of failures at the box office, and a movie like Baby, which released early this year on similar themes, had diluted the uniqueness of the premise of Phantom. But UTV, once again, was ready to prove everyone wrong. To start with, it made a call that would prove to be the wisest release date change of the year. It moved Phantom's release from April to August. This ensured (a) that the positive rub-off from Kabir Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan's success would give Phantom more firepower and momentum (and let's also not forget the successful run of producer Sajid Nadiadwala who's been delivering hits one after another); (b) the audience would get a longer break from watching Saif on screen and would be more open to his next outing; and (c) there would be enough of a gap in audience memory between Baby and Phantom to ensure that comparisons were fewer. It proved to be a master stroke. The movie opened to an incredible weekend at the box office.
And the reason for all these above-mentioned successes: it's been largely driven by the creative calls, strategic decisions and tactically sound calls taken by UTV.
E Niwas Moves On
Box Office India was the first to announce last year that E Niwas had decided to launch South actress Anushka Shetty in Bollywood via a film titled Juvenile. Everything was almost set and the director had spoken to Dhanush, who initially liked the script. But, then, things didn't work out.
Reason: The film revolved around an 18-year-old boy and Dhanush decided he wouldn't be able to pull off a character that young. Since Niwas hasn't been able to find another young actor for the role, he has moved on to another script.
"I have kept my last film on hold as I didn't get a young actor to cast. Currently, I am working on a crime drama, which is based on a true story. I have only taken the inspiration from the story and the rest is fiction. At the moment, I am at the casting stage and so I haven't decided on it yet," says Niwas.
Bela Sehgal's Next
Bela Sehgal, editor turned director, made her directorial debut withShirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi, a love story focusing on a middle-aged couple, featuring Farah Khan and Boman Irani, which released in 2012. For a long time, there were rumours that Sehgal would direct a sequel to her debut film. But since the film gained neither traction at the box office nor critical acclaim, she decided to move on.
We now hear that the director is gearing up for another film, another love story but this one is based on young couples. A source close to the film reveals, "It's a fresh and modern love story based on today's times, where everyone is gearing up for a career. It's an emotional drama too. Bela, who is currently overseas, is looking for A-list actors to cast."
The film will be produced under the banner of Sanjay Leela Bhansali Productions and will probably start rolling early next year as SLB is concentrating solely on Bajirao Mastani, the shooting of which is underway.
The Notorious Babloo Srivastava
Many a filmmaker has been keen to make a film on Babloo Srivastava, the notorious goon from the badlands of Uttar Pradesh, but every time a director has attempted a film on Srivastava, the project has been jinxed. The first director to take a shot at it was Ashish R Mohan, who had planned to cast Abhishek Bachchan in the lead role. But he was not happy with the way the script had shaped up, so he moved on to another story. The script was then tossed to Manish Vatsalya, who made his debut as an actor. But Vatsalya went on to direct a film called Jeena Hai Toh Thok Daal. The director had signed Arshad Warsi to play Babloo Srivastava's character, and the film was titled Babloo. Now we hear that Warsi too has opted out of the project as he didn't like the draft.
A source close to the film reveals, "A few months ago, Arshad had a narration from the writers but he felt there was nothing new or appealing about the story. He believed it could have been better written. So he decided to move on and inform the team so that they can look for another actor."
So, once again, the hunt for a new actor is on.
Flying Jacqueline Fernandez
Tiger Shroff is busy with Baaghi but by the time he is free, Jacqueline Fernandez will get busy with Dishoom, which will be shot at a stretch for a month. So why we are giving you Fernandez and Shroff's dates? Well, because both of them feature in Remo D'Souza's next Flying Jatt. The director wanted to start shooting the film immediately, which he did, as both the actors had allotted him 10 days. But now D'Souza has to wait for two to three months to start the actual schedule because in the next few months, Fernandez will be juggling between Housefull 3 and Dishoom. She will be able to start D'Souza's film only after that.
Flying Jatt is produced by Balaji Motion Pictures.
PS: We also heard that Remo has started working on his other scripts.
Guess Who?
This producer is known for his creative calls and also as a marketing genius. He is also known to take decisions starting at the scripting stage. So when this writer started scripting, he was told he had to work with a co-writer. But the writer wasn't comfortable with the arrangement and told the producer he would much rather work alone. Since the producer recently became good friends with the writer and has been giving him a lot of work for the small screen, the writer thought he would back him up. But surprise, surprise! The producer chose to back the other writer. Now creative differences between the producer and the writer are mounting, which threaten to compromise on the scripting. Let's hope they sort out their problems or this film might not happen.
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