Aamir director has a good day - Article

Debutant director Rajkumar Gupta says he had to struggle to get the rights of American pop singer Peggy Lee's song for his film Aamir. "From the time I heard Peggy Lee sing It's a Good Day, I wanted it as the preamble for Aamir. It so ably and ironically defined my protagonist's day and what it eventually does not turn to be, that I was just not willing to let it go," Gupta said. Thus began the chase to get the song.

"Since Peggy Lee died in 2002, it wasn't easy. We finally tracked it down to the source but the price quoted was far too much for our budget. We finally had to pay something around Rs 800,000. Considering our film's budget was Rs 20 million, that was a fortune for us, especially since we weren't allowed to use the song in our soundtrack," said Gupta. The struggle to get Peggy Lee's song wasn't the only copyright crisis for Aamir.

"Halfway through the making, someone informed us that Aamir looked suspiciously like Filipino director Neill dela Llana's Cavite. I died. We didn't want to take any chances." Gupta said. "We immediately got in touch with the makers of Cavite and told them what we were making and asked if we should proceed with our project or scrap it. They were gracious enough to give us an all-clear signal saying two works of art somewhere or the other are bound to resemble one another," Gupta said.

"Imagine if a new director's first film got scrapped! I was sure I'd be in the clear because my script was ready a good two years before Cavite was released," said the director. Gupta's execution of the subject has earned him critical acclaim. "So far the response has been more than what Rajeev and I had hoped for," Gupta said.