Woody Allen might have something to do with fuelling a nascent irritation that some Indian filmmakers were feeling for some time. This has to do with the stringent anti-smoking guidelines imposed on the film industry. Every time there is a character smoking on screen, the movie must have a subtitle of sorts saying that cigarette smoking is injurious. This is over and above lengthy social message clips on the dangers of smoking before the movie starts. Allen’s movie Blue Jasmine was scheduled to be released in India but he pulled it out when told about the ads. To Allen, this was an infringement on his creative rights. What he did found resonance among a number of filmmakers. Vishal Bhardwaj, for example, has always been blunt about the extent of no smoking ads being a little over the top. And now Anurag Kashyap has joined the bandwagon. After his film Ugly which was supposed to be released this week had got postponed, one of the producers of the movie was quoted in a newspaper as saying that Kashyap had some issues with the censor board.  He apparently got miffed when asked to insert the ad in a scene. The movie’s release has now been shifted to next year while Kashyap mounts a legal challenge to the guidelines.
Strangely, Kashyap had once made a movie called No Smoking whose plot revolved around a smoker. If that movie was to release now, it would have the no smoking subtitles in practically every scene. But given the social cause which the guidelines want to promote, it is unlikely Kashyap will get any relief.
He is probably just inviting a lot of problems over what seems to be not a very important issue. He has a long history of projects getting stuck but in recent times it had been smooth sailing. Let’s hope his track record is not reverting to mean again.


Peace at last

The most famous estrangement in Bollywood history has officially come to an end. No, we are not talking of Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan, those two still remain aloof. The greatest scriptwriters the industry has produced, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, who for slightly under three decades would have nothing to do with each other, have finally made their peace. Both of them made public statements recently that they have no issues between them and are open to working together. The reason for their earlier split is still not completely clear but one book said that Amitabh Bachchan, the superstar who they created, might have something to do with it when he refused to act in one of their movies. Javed was for breaking ties with him while Salim was not and it led to bitterness between them. Ironically, what bought them together was also an Amitabh movie. When the sequel to Zanjeer was being made, the duo had filed a court case asking for royalty because it was their script. Their hours in court apparently got them talking again. And then another Amitabh movie, Sholay, whose 3D version is about to hit screens soon, also saw the two sharing the same platform during the launch of the trailer. After their separation, Salim gave up writing scripts after a few years while Javed turned into a full time lyricist. Since both of them now seem open to working with each other, it won’t be long before they are asked to write a movie. Will some of that old magic still be there?


The woes of Varma

Satya 2 has released but the travails Ram Gopal Varma suffered over it kept pace with him until the last minute. The movie’s release had been postponed once. There was also a mysterious underworld threat to him. And then, a couple of days before the release, it was reported in a tabloid that the there would be one more postponement. A company dealing in cooking oils called LR Active Oils, which was part financing the movie, had filed a case for breach of contract and asked for a stay on the release. Reportedly, they had a falling out with the company because it had not paid the entire sum and they were also using the poster of the movie to promote their oil products. Varma has over the last few years been responsible for some bizarre creations, but none which involved something as strange as cooking oil. Varma clarified on Twitter the next day that the court had refused a stay and the movie was going ahead as planned. It hit the screens on Friday but already the critics were having a field day panning it.

New lease of life

Krrish 3 has zoomed away to become a superhit, its box office collections being touted as breaking a few records. Hrithik Roshan, who has been on a roll since the release of Agneepath last year, has held on to superstar status. But the man who is probably grinning more than Hrithik is Viveik Oberoi, who plays the villain in the movie. Till just a few months ago, it was thought that Oberoi’s career was well and truly dying. Everything he touched was flopping. And then a puerile sex comedy Grand Masti became a big hit. He was not the solo lead but still it meant that he was back in the reckoning. And now, with Krrish 3, he has some momentum going and will probably be once again getting good offers. Oberoi himself was responsible for his career nosediving after initial success went to his head and he got a reputation of someone who was difficult to deal with. It contributed to his decline when the flops started.
Oberoi has not signed any more movies after his recent success. He wants to be picky and choose good movies. That is an intelligent way to go about it but one would hope that his bad run would have taught him a lesson about the dangers of behaving like a star instead of an actor.

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