Ajay Devgn doesn’t want Andrrews to direct Kajol.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: Kajol’s fans will have to wait for some more time for her comeback, as the Bollywood remake of the hit Malayalam film ‘How Old Are You’, the rights of which was bought by her hubby Ajay Devgn, has run into contractual issues.
According to reports, the director of the Malayalam version, Rosshan Andrrews, had a clause in his contract which would have had him directing any remakes. However, reportedly, Devgn was not in favor of Andrrews, who has only directed six Malayalam films in his career till now, being in charge of operations of his precious wife and her big comeback moment.
Devgn reportedly wanted the director Ashwini Dhir to be the director, according to The Times of India. Dhir has three Hindi films to his credit: One Two Three, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge and his most recent Son of Sardaar.
‘How Old Are You’ would have been an apt role for Kajol, as it would have suited her age. The central character in the film is a middle aged married woman in the throes of an identity crisis. The film had already become a darling in the southern film industry because it re-launched the career of critically acclaimed Malayalam film actress Manju Warrier.
But if the reports of Devgn and Andrrews not seeing eye to eye with each other on the issue of who will direct it are true, then it’s also likely that the Malayalam director and scriptwriter has possibly made himself a few enemies in Bollywood with his stubborn attitude.
Very few directors from the south have managed to break successfully into Bollywood, with the Tamil film director AR Murugadoss being one of the exceptions. His film Ghajini, made in Tamil, was remade in Hindi with him helming it, and starred Aamir Khan. It holds the record for the first Bollywood film to cross the Rs. 100 crore mark.
Murugadoss after that had other Tamil films to his credit which crossed the Rs. 100 crores mark, but in 2012 he did the rare thing of repeating his box office feat with yet another Hindi remake of a Tamil film: Thuppakki, starring Vijay, was remade in Hindi as Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, starring Akshay Kumar.
Andrrews is not anywhere in the same league as Murugadoss, as yet anyway, and may never become so now after his disagreement with Devgn.
Andrrews’ first movie was Udayananu Tharam, after which came Notebook and Evidam Swargamanu. But then came the terrible film Cassanova, which proved to be an embarrassment for lead star Mohanlal, and was panned by critics and the audience alike. It was followed by Mumbai Police and How Old Are You.
It’s contentious to presume that Andrrews may not do as good a job of directing Kajol as he did with Warrier, but the sensibilities of how directors look at drama is definitely different when it comes to comparing Bollywood with its industry cousins in the south. And Devgn may have a good point in trying to choose the director for Kajol, especially since he had the rights to the film.
1 Comment
This is unfortunate. How Old Are You was an amazing film. But it ran because of Warrier. The movie is special as it has spearheaded such an important movement in relation to organic vegetable production at home. I don’t think the message will resonate in the rest of India, especially North India.