Where has professionalism gone?
They could have been Carmen
F
irst things first. Shyam
Benegal the master auteur
of as many as 22 feature
films and several documentaries,
shorts and television series, and
also the winner of innumerable
National and international
awards, is also a Rajya Sabha M P.
He is the creatively agile director
who has wanted to make Carmen
– the classic story of a fiery
woman with two lovers, which has
inspired 50 movies and TV series
ever since cinema was invented.
The most famous among the versions is Carlo Saura’s Carmen,
which is hot even in the city’s DVD
circuit.
Down the decades, Benegal has
thought of various actresses to
play the once-in-a-lifetime role –
starting from Neena Gupta at one
point and then moving on to Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor.
Carmen jinx
Immediately after he had completed Bose: A Forgotten Hero, preproduction had
begun work with
a producer on Carmen. Kareena
Kapoor’s name was heard for the
title role.. but eventually the
choice was Urmila Matondkar,
fresh from her livewire performances in Ek Haseena Thi and
Naina. Jimmy Sheirgill was
finalised as the male lead. Even
the costume measurements of the
acting crew had been taken.. and
the location was to be Rajasthan..
all seemed to be set for the filmmaker’s vision of the legendary
Carmen as a gypsy woman of the
deserts.
Then without any warning
came the news that Sanjay Gupta
had announced a plethora of films
to be made under his White Feather banner. This would include the
directed
Apoorva Lakhia
Shootout at Lokhandwala, a series
of featurettes by different directors under the title of Dus
Kahaniyan, a project by Meghna
Gulzar and surprisingly,
Chamki Chameli by Benegal.
So far, so terrific. But nothing
seemed to be moving for Benegal.
Meanwhile Urmila and Jimmy
were clueless too, their dates had
been earmarked but not utilised.
Came rumblings from Gupta’s
office that he wanted Benegal to
“upgrade” the project.. it was conjectured that Benegal’s Carmen
would now be Priyanka Chopra..
and she would be paired with Sanjay Dutt. The distributors would
pay up more money for a star-lined
movie, wouldn’t they?
Different tune
Quite unprofessionally, Urmila
was out and who knows if Priyanka had agreed to step in or not.
Meanwhile, Benegal diligently
immersed himself in working on
the music score with A R Rahman in Chennai. Evidently, five
outstanding tunes are with Benegal now.. sung by the composer as
well as some new talents.
On the other hand, Gupta was
seen and heard mainly at splashy
parties like the one held for
Shootout at Lokhandwala – cohosted by production partner
Ekta Kapoor. Neither White
Feather nor Balaji Films, however, talked of Chamki Chameli.. on
the contrary a sequel to Dus
Kahaniyan was announced, meaning they would end up making
Bees Kahaniyan.
In black and white
Benegal maintained a dignified
silence.. till he understood that he
had not been behind the camera
for more than 18 months. He sent
a letter to White Feather.. signifying that since things had not
worked out, for reasons beyond his
comprehension, he was moving
on.. which he has.
Benegal will now be directing a
film – a political satire tentatively
titled Mahadev – which will be
largely shot in Hyderabad.
Shreyas Talpade and Amrita
Rao are being considered for the
lead roles.
The story clearly indicates that
Gupta has taken a stalwart director for granted. When we met
Benegal, he laughed the entire
unpleasant chapter as, “It’s okay,
I only wish things were made
clear.. it is no point wasting my
time or his. I have sent them a letter.. and I do not want to comment
on what has happened.. it would
not be dignified.”
Sanjay Gupta was called for
three days to give his side of the
story. He did not respond or have
the courtesy of sending a “no com
ments” sms. But then to
paraphrase that
vintage song..
yeh hai Bolly
wood meri
jaan..
Hindustan Times, 29-04-2007
Thanks to Vij for spotting this...
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