Did SLB Favour SalluRani Over RanbirSonam

Did Sanjay Bhansali Favour Salman-Rani Over Ranbir-Sonam?

Post a successful 'Devdas', when Sanjay Leela Bhansali announced his next ambitious project 'Bajirao Mastani', fate decreed otherwise for the filmmaker. For various much flogged reasons, the film didn't materialise and Sanjay bided his creative time in the production of 'Black', which was a far cry from his ostentatious last, but which made its mark by the sheer starkness and extremely remarkable performances of the two protagonists played by Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee. Having put aside his muse of all times Aishwarya Rai on hold for a while, Sanjay shifted his obsessive attentions to his new muse, the versatile Rani Mukherjee, who he swore by as one of the most talented actresses of all times.

Knowing Sanjay Bhansali's penchant for larger than life scenarios where his films are concerned, complete with tassels, tantrums and tears, it came as a surprise when he announced 'Sanwariya' instead (ostensibly inspired by Dostoevsky's 'White Nights'), where he chose two completely new faces for his romantic duo (needless to say, there has to be a romantic angle in all SLB's films, else they just can't be his). The new duo consisted star kids Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, children of Rishi and Neetu Kapoor and Anil and Sunita Kapoor respectively. Both these star children had worked with Sanjay assisting him with his last film 'Black'.

Albeit star children, neither of the two kids were debuting with their own family banners or production houses. Strangely, even coming from the first family of filmdom, the Kapoors, with a banner like RK behind him, Ranbir was being launched by Sanjay Bhansali. Fact is stranger than fiction. Whilst Sanjay had announced his intention to make 'Black', the story goes that the star parents encouraged their children to work as assistants so that they could polish their cinematic education, as well as use their time productively. And so Ranbir and Sonam joined Sanjay. Apparently, whilst the kids were assisting him, he was so impressed with their presence and diligence, that he decided he would further the spark he saw in them, and requested both sets of parents to allow him to launch the two, which the parents consented to. They couldn't have asked for a better director for their children to debut with, a man known for cinematic excellence as well as commercial success.

And yes, Sanjay Bhansali had also roped in his two favourite people amongst the star pantheon, Salman Khan and Rani Mukherjee. It was a very daring move to announce a film with rank newcomers, and whilst Sanjay is known for eliciting performances from the most plastic icons, it would be worthwhile to wait and watch what he would be able to do with the two newcomers, completely unexposed as they were to the demands of the profession, as well as the extremely demanding director. To give them their due, they worked diligently as students would at an examination where they wanted to come out with flying colours. Sanjay went on record on television talk shows et al more than once, to say what a pleasure it was working with these two newcomers, because they were like clay in his hands that he could mould, and that they were like his babies and what a wonderful new experience it was for him because it was also the first time that he was working with rank newcomers.

Sanjay Bhansali started off on his film without fanfare, preferring to keep it a closely wrapped affair, as they shot on sets constructed at the Nitin Desai studio in Panvel. Everybody worked hard on the film, but all questions remained unanswered as the cast and crew remained tight-lipped about the shooting and the film. It is only now that the film has reached completion that small items of news are filtering out about 'Sanwariya'. No, no controversy or sordid stories about anyone involved in the film, no accidents worth reporting or any such catastrophe or calamity which have in the past had a tendency to besiege Bhansali every time he's made a film. Yes, this film too saw its share of accidents. But what sources tell us is no accident as it appears. Apparently, whilst the film was touted as being the debut vehicle for Ranbir and Sonam Kapoor, it has eventually seen an extension of Rani and Salman's tracks, almost to the extent that they are there for a bulk of the film, rendering the two debutants as barely more than incidental in terms of footage. In fact, we heard that it is Rani and Salman's story more than that of the two newcomers.

Speculations run rife as to why Sanjay would do something like that. The possibilities are multiple. One of them being that as the shooting progressed, their characters developed further. But Sanjay Leela Bhansali has always been known to work with a bound script before he even approaches the stars, leave alone gets into even day one of shooting, so there is little chance that the roles could have suddenly developed to such mammoth proportions. The second possibility is that very simply the performances of the seniors outshone those of the newcomers. But would Sanjay then play unfair and give them such a raw deal even to salvage his film? The third is that considering the two supposed protagonists are newcomers, even with all their history and dynasty behind them, the fact remains that they are newcomers and so might not be able to sell a film on the strength of their names alone. So Sanjay necessarily needed to cast two senior and leading stars to comply with box-office parameters if he wanted to sell his film. And nobody knows better than Sanjay Leela Bhansali the agonies of selling a film (considering what he's had to go through with each of his films, stars, sets, lavishness, music and his own immeasurable talent notwithstanding).

Whatever the state of affairs as to the footage of each star and the newcomers are concerned, each one of them deserves the benefit of doubt. The newcomers are bound to be presented very well by Sanjay, who will leave no stone unturned to ensure that his film isn't compromised in any way. Ranbir and Sonam are like two young buds, watered and nurtured in the garden under the eyes of a master gardener, but awaiting spring to unfold their petals and be allowed to blossom fully. Only then can and should the colour, texture and fragrance of their performances be assessed fully. And whilst we're still talking about the film, very few people can complain about Salman and Rani being given extended footage or full blown roles. After all, they have both proved themselves time and again with so many films, and more than all of that, each in their respective films with Sanjay Leela Bhansali have given nothing short of the best performances of their lives. Let's wait for 'Sanwariya' to release before we cry fair or foul.