The most raved movie of the year suddenly finds itself in the middle of an unsavoury controversy. Queen, one of those rare movies that come out of Bollywood that are centred on a woman, went on to become a surprise hit.
It was because of a sparkling performance by Kangana Ranaut and a great script. Critics lapped it up and the audience made their admiration known by ringing the box office counters. But now comes news that the story of Queen might have been plagiarised from another movie.
A newspaper reported that another director had made a film called Phir Zindagi, which like many projects never got released. The movie’s writer and director have claimed that the storyline has a resemblance in that the main character goes off on her honeymoon alone.
In fact, the writer even claims some of the scenes in Queen were also taken from his movie. What makes the story believable is that he claims they showed the movie to Queen’s director Vikas Bahl almost eight years ago. Bahl was in a production company then and they had approached him to release the movie.
And it was only now belatedly when they saw Queen that they realised that Bahl had used a substantial amount of their movie’s story. The director of Phir Zindagi says that she would have put it down to coincidence if Bahl had not seen the movie.
In fact, because of Queen her movie might never ever be released. This doesn’t bode too well for such a critically acclaimed movie.
Even if Bahl had been inspired and thought the original movie would never be released after such a long time, it would have been incumbent on him to at least inform them and buy the copyright. And chances are it could have been negotiated but Bollywood is famous for a lack of generosity. And, what is more, such occurrences don’t seem to surprise anyone.
Amitabh returns
He’s 71 years old and keeps saying that the only thing he hopes for is that he should get work. But if Amitabh Bachchan’s form is anything to go by then he really does not need to worry. Consider his latest movie Bhoothnath Returns. It is targeted at children and also has a good dollop of political humour in it.
In Bollywood, such a movie would not stand much of chance to become a hit. But purely because of Amitabh’s presence the movie is raking in the numbers. It has garnered around $5mn so far and that puts it among one of the top grossers of this year.
It might not have done the kind of business that is seen by movies with superstars like the Khans but then Bhoothnath Returns is also produced at a low budget.
Amitabh’s success was celebrated by his son Abhishek with a tweet that said: ‘71 and still socking it outta the park!!’ That is quite aptly put. At an age when most of his contemporaries have vanished into the woodwork, the Big B is still going strong.
A home for Ranbir
Ranbir Kapoor, who had been shooting in Sri Lanka, came to Mumbai briefly and went looking for an apartment. It immediately led to rumours that he was leaving his parents. Currently, they stay together in a bungalow. His father nosing in his affairs could have something to do with it.
Some time back in an interview Rishi had spoken about noticing many girls coming home to meet Ranbir. Problematically, he said that one didn’t know that the other was also coming to meet Ranbir which sort of hinted that his son was two timing.
It was probably said in jest but there is also a rumour that Rishi doesn’t approve of Katrina. And hence, this flat hunting is supposed be Ranbir’s way of ensuring that he gets a place to be with Katrina in private. Not that all this is necessarily true.
It doesn’t take much for the gossip mill to connect dots which don’t exist. There is of course the probability that with the relationship getting serious they might be thinking of moving in but that it has anything to do with his parents might be just an unsubstantiated theory.
No to politics
Akshay Kumar has not been having a good run lately. He has had two duds last year in Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara! and Boss. His hopes therefore rest on the next release Holiday where he plays a secret agent.
It is directed by AR Murugadoss who had last directed a Hindi film with Aamir Khan in Ghajini. That had become a superhit so expectations are high. But in an interesting interview recently Akshay quite candidly indicated how his market price may have decreased.
He was directly asked whether he had reduced his fee and his reply was that market conditions do affect it and that he didn’t want to burden the producers. That is quite an admission to make. No star really accepts in Bollywood that his standing has come down. In the same interview he also said something else, which was equally admirable.
It is an open secret that political parties openly court movie stars but it is all in a hush hush manner. There have been whispers for some time that Akshay had been offered a ticket for the current elections and he confirmed it. He said that he had been asked but turned it down because politics is just not his cup of tea. What this means is that if one superstar was offered a ticket then everyone else must also have been approached.
In fact Salman Khan’s father Salim has openly endorsed the BJP leader Narendra Modi. This comes in the backdrop of Salman sharing some time with Modi during an event some time back. Akshay, it is rumoured, got the offer from the Congress. Though, of course, that was something he was not willing to reveal. Politics, as it stands today, is the resort of yesteryear actors. We might have to wait a couple of decades before Akshay considers it.
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