Posted: 08 November 2009 at 9:55am
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Boney-is-ecstatic/articleshow/5208893.cms
Boney Kapoor is maha excited. Not over
Wanted, his September blockbuster that got close to Rs 40 crore billing, but by
his January release
I don't have to
tell you the film's been in the making for a while, but Boney is confident
it will be successful. "I can feel it in my bones," he said
emphatically, "why should it not work, it's a good love story,
it's got fantastic music." But what about the chemistry between
Kareena and Shahid, I asked. "That's there," Boney declared,
"besides, once the lights are off in the theatre, you forget whether they
are a couple or not, and they become characters."
He's been a major
player in Bollywood for 33 years now, and has always been big on ideas, and
bigger on executing them. Which accounts for some 30 successes over the 80s, 90s
and so far into the 2000s. Now he rattled off their names to me not in any order
but as they came to mind. "There was Judaai in 1997 with Anil Kapoor and
Sridevi which was a major hit but not a blockbuster," he began,
"Company, Pukar in 2000 ' that won the National Award, and Loafer
which was very successful, also Run in 2004... Abhishek Bachchan's
cleansing began with this film, and Sirf Tum in which Sushmita Sen had the
superhit song Dilbar... then No Entry, the biggest commercial success of 2005,
and Wanted now, which I would rate as one of the Top 10 films of all time.
It's still running! And it's a case study to the business that has
evolved now. When people talk of a film raking in Rs 200 crore... that's a
western concept to lure eyeballs. What you get in hand is what matters. I gave
you the Indian box-office figures for Wanted. The overseas, satellite, home
video/audio, branding rights are
separate."
He's
had some lemons at the box office as well, films like Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka
Raja in 1993 that I wasn't reminding him about. However, Boney said on his
own, "I'm a complete hands-on filmmaker, I've been through it
all, I've done so many films, and several for my brothers Anil and Sanjay
too, that I've got to know the complete and detailed aspects of filmmaking
and distribution. With today's invasion of corporates, the role of the
producer is not underlined, there's just a mad rush to put the package
together. That's why you've seen so many packages falling like nine
pins! The control of the project is the engine... and it's important to
have a producer driving it with passion. Yes, the corporates brought in
discipline where the business of filmmaking is concerned, and they streamlined
the revenue mode, but they took away the
passion."
That Boney
has passion, there is no doubt. "I've been through the highs and
lows, I've had a fractured financial status, but even then... if I can
still churn out a blockbuster, what magic might I have done with a complete
back-up," he asked. The answer to that, perhaps, is in the films his
production house BSK Network and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. is making. I've
already told you about Milenge Milenge. Then there's the Anees Bazmee
directed It's My Life with Genelia, Harman Baweja and Nana Patekar, a
remake of the successful South Indian film Bombraillu in Telugu and Santosh
Subramaniam in Tamil. Isn't Hurman bad news in Bollywood, I asked.
"Wasn't Amitabh bad news until Zanjeer," Boney shot back.
And he's got three
more films in mind for which Boney Kapoor can already hear the cash tills at the
box office ringing. They are all sequels. "I'm starting Mr. India 2
' Be Positive, there's a strong possibility of Anil and Sridevi
being the lead pair, plus a new, young couple, and somebody big playing the
major and unusual role of the villain. Then I've got a fix for No Entry 2.
And somebody suggested a good idea for Most Wanted. Everything depends on the
viability of the projects and availability of the main crew. I'm a strong
believer in the need for a good support system. My cast is always according to
the need of the film. What works is not a package, but the
product."
Edited by -anamika- - 08 November 2009 at 9:56am
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