Rajkumar Santoshi’s film ‘Halla Bol’ was scheduled to release in December 2007 but has been postponed to January 11.
Even as director Rajkumar Santoshi has thought-provoking films ‘Halla Bol’, ‘Ashok-The Great’ and ‘Ramayan’ lined up, he tells Rashmi Hemrajani that he’s an entertainer first
MUMBAI: Rajkumar Santoshi’s film ‘Halla Bol’ was scheduled to release in December 2007 but has been postponed to January 11. Santoshi explains, “The movie was scheduled to release on December 21 but the producers did not want it to clash with ‘Taare Zameen Par’ and ‘Welcome’. So we opted for a later date.” Incidentally, ‘Halla Bol’ traces the life of Ashquee (Ajay Devyan), a man who performs street plays in a small-town to later become a film-star. It also dwells on how stardom leads him to lose his identity. Vidya Balan plays his emotional wife.
Santoshi is also keen to begin work on ‘Ashok—The Great’ based on King Ashoka. The movie, which will feature Ajay Devgan, will go on the floors in June 2008. It will deal with Ashoka’s transition from a violent king to a peace-loving individual. Santoshi affirms, “Little has been known about the great king. My film starts with the Kalinga war and will talk about how he embraced Buddhism, faced obstacles and preached non-violence. Managing an entire empire without a sword must have been quite a task.” The movie will be shot in Thailand, Spain and Ladakh.
Santoshi is also in the midst of pre-production work for ‘Ramayan’, which will star Kajol and Ajay Devyan. Has Ajay become his favourite? With a smile Santoshi replies, “Ajay and I share a rapport and his personality fits into any role.”
Santoshi has also bought the rights of a famous play written by Dr Asgar Vajahat titled, ‘Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhiya, O Jamian He Nahin’. “It is an emotional story of a family during the India-Pakistan partition. But have not decided on the cast as yet.”
Santoshi, who has directed thought-provoking movies such as ‘Lajja’, ‘Khakee’ and ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ says he’s primarily an entertainer, “I am not some social reformist. I want to entertain people even as I raise issues. Today people are not concerned about each other. If your neigbhour’s house is burning you don’t bother.”
Interestingly, Santoshi has a penchant for humour too. Referring to the his film ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ he says, “The movie is beginning to attend cult status now. People have commented on each and every scene of the movie. TV shows too have adopted some element from the film. It is a compliment for me.”
So is he planning a comedy too? “Maybe, if I get an interesting subject,” he ends.
h_reshmi@dnaindia.net
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