Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | July 06, 2018

Baba bolta hai, “Safety ke liye 350 likh de”
Rajkumar Hirani is in a fix. Sanju is a hit: nothing to worry on that front. The money pumped in has given humungous returns, or so it seems going by trade reports. The aam junta has lapped up all of Baba’s antics (or should we say misdemeanors) which was coloured so beautifully that even when he tells us his “score” it is like an achievement. No, neither has Swara Bhaskar come out strongly against him (poor Sanjay Leela Bhansali), or Sanjay Dutt for making her “feel like a vagina”. After all, Baba was talking about his ‘conquests’: nothing derogatory about that and Hirani was creatively projecting it to the audience as beautifully as he could.

So why is Hirani in a fix?

We have heard that the Box Office collection is so high all across the world that Hirani was wondering what figure to release to the media in the Ads. The figure earned, we learn is Rs 308 crores. Baba, was not happy when he learnt about that.

“Safety ke liye 350 likh de,” he is reported to have told Hirani!

An Indo-Iranian venture by Lucky Morani
From Hirani to Morani! After all the many hats that Lucky Morani has donned (entrepreneur, actor and philanthropist) her latest is as producer of an international film in English. For the past few months Lucky has been busy on her project which she is collaborating with her counterpart from Iran, Ghorban Mohammedpour. The entire technical crew is from Iran we hear apart from the hero, Hamid Farrokhnezhad. Hamid is an actor, writer and director who won his first two Crystal Simorgh, a notable award in Iranian cinema given annually at the Fajr Film Festival, for Aroos-e Atash (The Bride of the Fire), for his performance in a supporting role and screenwriting categories. His second was in 2013 for his performance in Esterdad.

The heroine is from India and doing the honours in Esha Gupta who was last seen in Deven Bhojani’s Commando 2.

Ranbir Kapoor, the Guru!
Since we began with Rajkumar Hirani, let’s end with him. Full marks to him for zeroing in on Ranbir Kapoor to play the lead in his film: this when the actor is nowhere near to Baba in size or shape. Ranbir on his part (as has been mentioned by every critic), has floored the audience with his terrific performance. Rarely do you see a performance of such magnitude. He disappeared to make Baba appear! The last time an actor impressed with a biopic was Abhishek Bachchan in Mani Ratnam’s Guru (2007). An actor performs alright, but it takes tremendous insight by a director with foresight to imagine a character much before he is fleshed out on screen. And here, I can safely say that no casting agency can take the credit.

Also Read: Bhansali, Padmaavati, Swara, Vagina!