Sidharth-Sonakshi in Ittefaq.SRK-KJO to produce (SHOOTING BEGINS) - Page 3

Ittefaq falls into place, finally

• Red Chillies has joined hands with the BR boys to remake Ittefaq which their grandfather Baldev Chopra had produced with grand-uncle Yash Chopra as director

Shah Rukh Khan to remake Yash Chopra's 1969 hit film Ittefaq - tomorrow's headlines. Shah Rukh and Sonakshi Sinha, with dad Shatrughan, and the families of the late Chopra brothers (BR and Yash) star in a fascinating, believe-it-or-not circle of life that one is personally witnessing today.

Sometime in 2009, Sonakshi who was fast shedding her puppy fat was beginning to incline towards her father's profession. B.R. Chopra had passed away a year earlier and the baton had passed on to his son, Ravi, with hands-on wife Renu by his side. BR Films wanted to know, was Sona really interested in films?

To find out, Renu, Sona and I met at the Sun-n-Sand coffee shop. Yes, I'm serious about a career, said a confident Sonakshi. Renu came away impressed and wanted to offer her a film on the spot. But before she could do that, husband Ravi took seriously ill and fought an unsuccessful battle for his life for the next five years. The BR banner was debt-ridden and Renu had her hands full trying to save her husband and the company.

Meanwhile, Dabangg and Sonakshi happened in 2010.

We get to hear many actor-oriented stories of grit and grace but few would know how Renu with her two sons, Kapil and Abhay, fought backstage to fend off the creditors, settle financial issues and keep the family morale high. It was an uphill task for the trio which took one baby step forward when it unfurled the family flag by teaming up with T-Series to consolidate their Bhoothnath franchise. Bhoothnath Returns was possible largely due to Amitabh Bachchan who had always been the stolid supportive gent to this family. Salman Khan who'd struck up an equation with "Ravi Sir" during Baghban , was equally supportive.

But surprisingly, this Chopra branch also found chivalry and fairplay in SRK. He had already shown grace during the first Bhoothnath , when he had charmed them off their feet and dimpled, "Since when do guests take money?" while refusing to take a rupee for his guest appearance. He did a repeat act during Bhoothnath Returns.

And SRK has done it once more, marking achche din for B.R. Chopra's family once again. Red Chillies has joined hands with the BR boys, Kapil and Abhay, to remake Ittefaq, which their grandfather Baldev Chopra had produced with grand-uncle Yash Chopra as director in 1969. The success of this experimental, no-songs thriller had taken Rajesh Khanna's superstardom a few notches higher and given a twist to Nanda's innocent image.

Today, Ittefaq has returned with SRK and the BR family as 50-50 partners, the actor once again bowling them over with his graciousness. By the way, if anybody thinks SRK and Karan Johar have drifted apart, think again. The inside whisper is that it's KJo to whom SRK turned to put together a dew-fresh cast. So here's tomorrow's news today, courtesy a very reliable source: the new Ittefaq, reworked with twists and turns, will star Karan's discovery, the smashing Sidharth Malhotra, along with Sonakshi Sinha and Akshaye Khanna. It's a cast that Karan has personally put together for Shah Rukh and the BR boys.

The original Ittefaq was directed by Yash Chopra; the 2016-17 edition will be helmed by his grand-nephew, Abhay Chopra, who learnt filmmaking in New York. (Ranbir Kapoor and he used to share accommodation in NY during their student days.)

With the finalisation of this project, the coffee-meet of 2009 which remained suspended comes to fruition as Sonakshi Sinha steps into a film produced by Renu's boys.

There's more in this dramatic culmination of events. In Anything But Khamosh , Shatrughan Sinha has talked of the 1969 Ittefaq as a film that he was practically signed for but it slipped out of his hands. He wasn't sure why it had happened or if director Yash Chopra had a hand in his ouster. (Yash was then besotted with Mumtaz and therefore disliked her platonic closeness to Shatrughan.) But in a book on his family banner that the late Ravi Chopra was writing before his untimely illness, he'd given an entirely different reason for Shatrughan's absence from Ittefaq .

Whatever the reason may be, Shatrughan observed that though disappointed, he was happy that he'd been replaced by a superstar like Rajesh Khanna. "Anybody would've preferred a star like him to a relative newcomer like me," he had sportingly conceded in his book.

And so, like a Dharma film title, BR & Sons returns to filmmaking with a bang and 46 years later, Shatrughan's daughter Sonakshi steps into the refreshed Ittefaq . How's that for life coming full circle?

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author