On Thursday afternoon, the Mehrunissa producer Nikhil Advani and the proposed epic film's director Sudhir Mishra drove right down to Rishi Kapoor's bungalow Krishna Raj to talk about the most recent crisis looming over the troubled project.
With the massive B going under the knife, all over again Mehrunissa has come under another cloud. Just when the project's master-minds had resolved the problem in regards to the film's producers (the massive B was disinclined to work with UTV and the project was given over to DAR Films) his latest bout of incapacitation has placed a matter mark at the summer schedule of Mehrunissa in Lucknow and Bhopal.
The new plan for Mehrunissa was to shoot with the large B and Rishi Kapoor from April in Lucknow and Bhopal. But now with the massive B's surgery, the schedule seems unlikely. Also, Rishi Kapoor was not too kicked by the speculation of shooting within the sweltering summer in North India. Through the meeting on Thursday, he flatly told his Mehrunissa producer and director that he wouldn't have the ability to shoot in Lucknow and Bhopal in summer.
So where does the project stand now?
Says Sudhir Mishra, "Nikhil and that i met Rishi. Shooting within the heat for him isn't an insurmountable problem. He's the type of actor who would give his hundred percent to any more or less climactic condition or hardship. The primary issue for us is Amitji's health. Together with his surgery it's unlikely he can shoot in April. We just must look ahead to him to recover."
Rather than postpone the film, Sudhir Mishra and Nikhil Advani have found some way to not lose precious time.
Reveals Sudhir, "We're just rearranging the schedules. We'll now shoot the more youthful portions of Mr. Bachchan and Mr. Rishi Kapoor's story with the actors playing their parts within the earlier a part of the tale. That might serve our purpose well. Because if we shoot the early portions first, we'd be putting the film together chronologically."
Interestingly, Mehrunissa producer Nikhil Advani wanted Abhishek Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor to play the more youthful versions the large B and Rishi Kapoor. The theory was shot down by both the senior actors as too cliched and a burden on their sons.
Now two theatre actors from Delhi are being finalized for the parts of the young Bachchan and Kapoor.
Says Sudhir, "Getting look-alikes isn't one of these problem. But how do I make these young actors give a caliber of performance comparable with Mr. Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor who're the most effective talent India has ever produced?"
The time allotted to training the young Bachchan and Kapoor has just narrowed. The 2 theatre actors begin shooting in two months.
