Rohan excited about Night At Call Center

Page

sheetal

@sheetald

Rocker

Posted: 19 years ago

Rohan Sippy with Priyanka Chopra

After Bluffmaster! Rohan Sippy is finalising his next film. It will be based on Chetan Bhagat's latest novel One Night @ The Call Center.

"I have just bought the rights of the film," confirms Rohan. Upala KBRChetan Bhagat is also known for his Indian best seller Five Point Someone on life at IIT. The story is about things happening at a call centre and will "need an ensemble cast," informs Rohan. "I read the book and liked it very much.

Then I met Chetan last November, after which I bought the rights and Chetan has been developing the screenplay for me."

No Abhishek yet

Word has it that he has approached Abhishek Bachchan for the lead role in the film. "That's not true. I haven't discussed anything with Abhishek as yet. Till I get a good shooting draft on hand I am not approaching anybody. The story has six well-developed and well thought-out characters."

Directing dilemma

Rohan is not even sure if he will be directing the film. "I haven't made up my mind whether I will direct or not.

Right now we are looking at developmental quality material for our production company and in the process of sourcing them. After the screenplay is finalized we will take a call on the direction." No title has been finalised too

What did he like about the novel? "The novel has the issue of overqualified people doing jobs so it is not necessarily a career. India is not providing adequate jobs to the people. That interested me a lot also apart from the storyline. A lot of work will be involved in it. It's a nice book but could be difficult to translate into a film."

One Night @ The Call Center

In the winter of 2004, a writer met a young girl on a night train journey. To pass the time she offered to tell him a story. However she had a condition, that he put it into his second book.

He hesitated, but asked what the story was about. The girl said the story was about six people working in a call center, set in one night. She said it was the night they got a phone call. That phone call was from God.

Who is Chetan Bhagat?

Chetan is from IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad. Post IIM, he has been working in an investment bank in Hong Kong for the last seven years. It is first novel, Five Point Someone (FPS), came out in May 2004.

It has continued to top the Indian bestseller lists ever since - over seventy weeks after its release. FPS won Chetan the Society Young Achiever's award in 2004 and the Publisher's recognition award in 2005.

The heartwarming, fast-paced tale of three IITians has enjoyed cult popularity and has even been prescribed as course reading across various Indian universities and schools.

One night @ The Call Center is his second novel. It is already a bestseller of 2005 before release, based on advance orders alone.