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Anees Bazmee who has been reported to be directing around 6-7 films clarifies and confirms on the status of each film
By IndiaFM News Bureau, May 26, 2007 - 08:48 IST
| The superlative box-office success of No Entry gave a tremendous boost to Boney Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan and everyone involved with the project. But the one person to gain the most from the film was writer-director Anees Bazmee who had a line of producers approaching him to direct a film for their banner. UTV, Percept, Shemaroo, Balaji Films, Firoz Nadiadwala to Boney Kapoor, Anees is in the good books of all the big names of Bollywood. In fact as per the announcements made by the production houses, he should be having as many as 6-7 films in his hands today making him one of the busiest filmmakers in the industry. But Bazmee refutes claims saying, "I'm only doing one film which is Firoz Nadiadwala's Welcome. That's the only film I have completed after No Entry so you cannot call me the busiest filmmaker. We have finished shooting Welcome. It should release in the next three or four months. It's looking really good. If people like it as much as I have then it is going to be a super-hit film." So where does that put the sequels of No Entry and Hera Pheri he was to direct for Boney Kapoor and Firoz Nadiadwala respectively. "No Entry Mein Entry is in the writing stages and International Hera Pheri will happen only next year", says the director. Wasn't he also involved with the sequel to Mr. India? "Yes, but I am only writing the Mr. India sequel and not directing it. Nikhil Advani will be directing the film." Seems like Anees Bazmee has a fascination towards sequels? "No, nothing like that", says Bazmee "I feel these films have a lot of potential and good films can be made out of these scripts." Recently there were also announcements that Anees Bazmee will be directing films for the Percept Picture Company and Shemaroo. Bazmee clarifies, "I haven't even narrated the script of Jeb Hamari Maal Tumhara to Percept as yet. I will eventually recite it to Shailendra Singh and then we will figure out what has to be done. A producer and director should have a good rapport. For Shemaroo I will be doing Issak but that again is in the writing stage and will happen only eventually." A year back, wasn't he was also signed to do a film each for UTV and Balaji Films? "I was to do 3 + 1 for UTV but since that didn't work out I offered them another film to star Ajay Devgan. But there is a problem with the actor's dates and it is being worked out. Once that is cleared we might go ahead. Nothing progressed on the Balaji front". His long delayed film Benaam starring Ajay Devgan, Sameera Reddy and Bhumika Chawla has now been renamed as Naam and might release soon. Why the change in title? "Everyone thought that the title Benaam is not so good and Naam would be a better option. Lots of people told me to change it and when so many request you to do something I feel it is God asking, so I changed it. Personally, it doesn't matter to me whether it is Naam or Benaam". But when the film was completed in 2004, why was the release of the film delayed for so long? "Mr. Dinesh Patel, the producer will be the best person to answer that question. The film is complete now and the producer is finalizing the release." So far we asked him about films that we were aware he was involved with. Is there anything more to the already long list that we are oblivious too? Bazmee doesn't give us a breather. "Yes, there is more. I have written a film called Shortcut for Anil Kapoor. And let me clarify I have only written it and won't be directing it. I have also completed another couple of scripts." With so many films on his repertoire, in which sequence will he handle them? "As and when the writing gets done, we will think of casting. And whichever actors give me dates first, that film will begin first", laughs Anees. "I am not even sure, which from my two completed films, will release first. Maybe Naam or maybe even Welcome!" And in this exponentially growing list we haven't even bothered to mentions his past list of shelved films which he was working on before No Entry. "Radheshyam Seetaram starring Aishwarya Rai and Suneil Shetty was a very sweet movie that was completed 7 years back. It was a good movie with a different flavor of comedy. If it was released at the right time, it would have been a good success as it was quite beautiful. Then there was Dil Dhadke Baar Baar starring Karan Nath, Amisha Patel and Gracy Singh that started quite some time back but we didn't shoot for more than a few days". But the most ambitious from the shelved lot was the remake of the South Indian film Autograph that Bazmee was to make for Raj Kumar Santoshi. So excited was Anees about this project that he wanted to shoot this film starring Akshaye Khanna, simultaneously with Welcome but unfortunately it never took off. And we thought Anurag Kashyap is jinxed with the maximum number of stuck or shelved films!!! On an ending note it becomes mandatory to ask Anees Bazmee on how does he manage so many film in an era when a director doesn't see over one film at a time? Bazmee confesses, "Apart from films, I do not like anything else. Since my childhood, this is what I always wanted to do. This was my interest and now has become my profession. When I was a writer, I used to write about 10 films at a time. I have written about 50 films in around ten years."
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