We had expected Rohit Shetty to make a film called ‘Bol Devgn’. After all, he’s made all of his eight films with the actor. Turns out he’s made ‘Bol Bachchan’ instead! “Bol Devgn – nice name, but not happening anytime soon,” says Rohit, the son of action director, late M. B. Shetty.
He’s made action films (‘Singham’, ‘Zameen’) and comedies (three of the ‘Golmaal’ series and ‘All The Best’) and while there have not been many awards on that mantle of his, he’s definitely soared the popularity charts. His last two films ‘Singham’ and ‘Golmaal 3’ have hit the Rs.100-crore club.
But the director says that there has never been any pressure to perform at the box office. “I know my films entertain and that’s what I aim to do. Wait for another year, the Rs-100 crore club will not exist any longer. Rs. 200 crores will be the next benchmark,” he says. “Earlier if a film was released with 700 prints, it had the wow factor. Today, ‘Bol Bachchan’ is being released with 2,500 prints. The number is bound to go up with the increasing population and the increasing reach,” he explains. “Moreover, the full-page ads which claim Rs.100 crores are only to give the producer-director a high. Actually the producer’s share is merely 50 per cent or less after everyone else’s share has been taken. So no point in presuming that I am the richest guy around with ‘n’ number of Rs. 100-crore hits under my belt,” he laughs.
Rohit’s ‘Bol Bachchan’ (released this Friday) is under close scrutiny by film critics as it has been adapted from Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1979 classic ‘Gol Maal’. The producers, Ashtavinayak and Ajay Devgn Films, bought the rights but Rohit says his film only borrows the idea of a man fabricating lies about a twin in the face of a tough situation.
“Utpal Dutt’s character is not there, there is no moustache angle to my story and there are added elements. Yet I know that people will talk about the similarities. In fact, once you watch the movie you will realise that it is a tribute to the original as Abhishek’s character gets inspired by a play that’s part of one of the scenes. That play is based on Hrishida’s film,” he reveals.
Rohit is also in the news as he is now teaming up with Shah Rukh Khan for ‘Chennai Express’. “I know people think I am a great planner. ‘After Ajay, now he has been able to ‘net’ Shah Rukh.’ But the truth is when Shah Rukh saw ‘Gol Maal 3,’ he loved it and called me to say he’d like to act in my film. I was thrilled as I was interested in remaking ‘Angoor’ (directed by Gulzar in 1982). It is a sweet film and I had bought the rights to it. I felt Ajay was just not right for the role of Sanjeev Kumar. SRK was happy with the concept of ‘Angoor’ but when I sat to write the script. I thought the film was too small for me and SRK to collaborate on,” says Rohit.
For the final meeting with SRK before he signed on the dotted, Rohit took the idea of a film he had put on the backburner for four years, half expecting to be thrown out of the door. “SRK looked me in the face and asked, ‘You want to make this? Okay. I will produce it too.’ Obviously I was too happy,” he says.
‘Chennai Express’ is the story of a man who travels from Mumbai to Rameswaram by train. The train forms only the first 25 minutes of the story but Rohit says he was happy with the title which the media gave his film. “The press started calling it ‘Chennai Express’ and it saved me the trouble of looking for a title,” he laughs. The character that SRK plays is not a South Indian but the film will have several character artists from the Tamil and Telugu industry.
Rohit says that his target audiences are women and children. Hence he avoids showing bloodshed or double entendre humour in his films. “I am all for family entertainers. ‘Singham’ was action-packed but there was not a drop of blood shown. I like blowing up cars, bikes and buses but that’s only for the thrills.”
After ‘Bol Bachchan’, the director will embark on ‘Chennai Express’ and then another action film with Ajay. “Another ‘Golmaal’ will happen once I have the script. Who knows, just as ‘Chennai Express’ was revived, I might even do an ‘Angoor’ remake finally!”
