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Vishal
Bhardwaj, who promises to complete a trilogy of Shakespeare films, says
lack of story writing talent in Bollywood forces him to visit the great
playwright again and again.
"A
good story works even if badly shot. It is very difficult to find good
stories. I'll make a trilogy of Shakespeare films. I don't know which
and when but there will be a trilogy for sure. I may adapt a
Shakespearean comedy next. Actually, I decided to go to Shakespeare
after watching Gulzar saab's "Angoor", which was an adaptation of 'A
Comedy Of Errors," Bhardwaj told IANS.
Critically acclaimed
"Maqbool" was Bhardwaj's first screen adaptation of Shakespeare's
"Macbeth". Followed by internationally applauded "Omkara", which was
inspired by "Othello".
"After 'Maqbool' I wanted to adapt
'Julius Caesar' for producer Bobby Bedi. But then I met Shekhar Kapur
and the idea for 'Mantra', starring Preity Zinta, was born. We started
working on that project with seven-eight writers for over six months.
Later Shekhar and I had differences over the final outcome of the
script."
Hence the project was shelved. Another project of
Bharadwaj, which couldn't move beyond scripting stage was "Mr. Mehta
& Mrs. Singh" with Aamir Khan.
Excerpts:
Q: First "Macbeth", then "Othello"... you seem to be fascinated by William Shakespeare.
A:
After "Maqbool" I wanted to adapt "Julius Caesar" for producer Bobby
Bedi. But then I met Shekhar Kapur and the idea for "Mantra", starring
Preity Zinta, was born. We started working on that project with
seven-eight writers for over six months. Later Shekhar and I had
differences over the final outcome of the script.
Then I had
this small script called "The Blue Umbrella". Everyone was after me to
make it. I shared my problems with Ronnie Screwvala of UTV. He agreed
to produce it on condition that UTV get to produce my next film.
Q: Buy one and get one free?
A:
Kind of (laughs). "The Blue Umbrella", which I've completed, is a
relatively small project. It's the kind of cinema I believe in, but
would never get to make without the backing of a big production house.
If I may say so, I'm very proud of my work in "The Blue Umbrella".
The
film's protagonists are kids. But the target audience are adults. The
main protagonist is a talented girl called Shreya Sharma. She's as good
as Shweta Prasad in "Makdee".
Q: Whom would you have cast as Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony?
A:
Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan Khan were in my mind. Actually, my fascination
with Shakespeare has to do with the lack of story writing talent in
Bollywood. A good story works even if badly shot. It is very difficult
to find good stories. My "Makdee" was an original.
The
three-act structure for Ruskin Bond's "The Blue Umbrella" is hard to
come by in the scripts being written today... So yes, I did go to
Shakespeare twice. I'll make a trilogy of Shakespeare films. I don't
know which and when. But there will be a trilogy for sure... I may
adapt a Shakespearean comedy next. Actually, I decided to go to
Shakespeare after watching Gulzar saab's "Angoor", which was an
adaptation of "A Comedy Of Errors".
Q: Why was your project "Mr. Mehta & Mrs. Singh" dropped?
A:
It isn't dropped. Aamir Khan was keen to work with me for a long time.
I narrated a few stories. He liked "Mr. Mehta and Mrs. Singh" (written
by Abhishek Choubey and Robin Bhatt) the best and asked me to work on
the script. For seven-eight months we were both excited by the idea.
But then we came to a turning point in the narration where we
completely disagreed.
I could see his point of view and he
could see mine. But we couldn't come to a common ground. He was
reacting as an intelligent actor. We agreed to disagree. Please don't
make it sound like a war or something. My relationship with Aamir is
very precious. We're working together in future for sure. We've
promised each other.
By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service
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