Ranbir Kapoor will play Kishore Kumar; but conditions apply

2 Nov 2017

Anurag Basu will finally get to make the Kishore Kumar bio-pic that he has been hankering to make for the past five years. But the glitches and hitches were many, and seemingly insurmountable. To begin with Ranbir Kapoor needed to give dates at a stretch so that the various stages in KKs life could be captured in their chronological essence. But Ranbir Kapoor was unable to set aside bulk dates for Kishore (the bio-pics tentative title). But now the dates are not a problem. Says Anurag Basu, Ranbir and I are certainly doing Kishore.Wed have gone into it right after Barfi.But then Ranbir got committed to Bombay Velvet.So I decided to make Jagga Jasoos first. Kishore cant be made in breaks and spurts. It has to be done in one long stretch. But at what cost? The Kishore Kumar bio-pic written by writer-director Somik Sen (who directed Madhuri Dixit in Gulab Gang ) has been waiting for approval from Kishore Kumars family, not just elder son singer Amit Kumar, but also the younger son Sumeet Kumar and wife Leena Chandavarkar. Acting on Kishore Kumars familys behalf Amit Kumar made it explicitly clear to Anurag Basu that nothing would go into the film on his father without his consent. Anurag Basu has apparently agreed to let Amit Kumar exercise complete creative control over the project. Says a well-informed source, Initially Anurag Basu fought off Amit Kumars claims as far as he could. But then matters came to such a head where it was either Kishore Kumar with Amit or no Kishore Kumar at all. Anurag decided to drop the project at one point, rather than let Amit have the final say in the content. But now Anurag has agreed to Amit Kumars conditions. Apparently nothing would go into the Kishore Kumar bio-pic without Amit Kumars approval, not even the songs! Basu would have to pay through his nose to buy rights for 30-35 Kishore Kumar evergreens from Sa Re Ga Ma/HMV. From these the ones that go in the film would be selected by Amit, Sumeet and their mother Leena Chandavarkar. According to a source close to the development, Anurag and Ranbir are not happy with the pre-conditions imposed on their Kishore Kumar project. But the choice was between making the film with pre-conditions or not making it at all. Both Anurag Basu and Ranbir Kapoor have decided its better to realize their dream project even with someone breathing down their necks rather than giving up the dream.